


Sky's the Limit

by felicia_angel



Category: Persona 4, Supernatural
Genre: Abusive John Winchester, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dean/Cas Big Bang Challenge 2016, John Winchester Being an Asshole, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character Death, Past Child Abuse, Sam Winchester is a Little Shit, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8462434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felicia_angel/pseuds/felicia_angel
Summary: In a small town, strange happenings begin again after a long, 14-year lull. With the arrival of Castiel Novak, and the sudden addition of powers he never realized he has, can he and the others he saved from a tragic end figure out the reason behind the murders?





	1. You're Myself, I'm Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel Novak arrives at his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thanks to my artist, [dreymart](http://dreymart.tumblr.com/post/152681832949/b-skys-the-limit-b-story-by-felicia-angel) for all of the lovely artwork she made for the story! 
> 
> This story has no beta besides myself, so any mistakes are mine.

(Thread 1): You're Myself, I'm Yourself

**_The sound outside was like a car driving through smoke, or some sort of a traveling thing moving - an elevator, or a train car. But the noise of the trip was muted, and the whole room was bathed in blue-white light. At the end of the room was seated a woman, bathed in white light and in a gray suit, her hair tied back in a severe bun. Next to her was a man with a beard, his hair brown and messy, looking out of place with his ruffled suit. With him was a huge book bound in blue, white, and black, with what appeared to be a face bisected to have a white half, and a black half._ **

**_“_ ** _Welcome to the Velvet Room **,” the woman said, a smile on her face, “** It seems you have the most unusual destiny lying before you... **”**_

—

Dean sighs as he headed towards school, frowning when he sees someone walking alone, his dark hair messy and looking like he just got out of bed, and the uniform one like either the private school full of weirdos, or the charter one that Sammy wanted to go to. He had to be new, and Dean raced a little so he could catch up with him. “Hey, you ok? Not lost?”

“No,” the other young man’s voice was gravelly and deep, but also sounds annoyed. Dean has to guess it was the rain - they were having some really abnormal storms that resulted in rain and fog. Dean smiles a bit as the other teen sighs, nodding. “Yes. Forgive me, I have a...bit of a headache.”

“No worries. I’m Dean. Our schools are the same way. You’re heading to that charter, right...Inaba or whatever it is?”

“I am, yes.” He glances at Dean and his faded jeans, too-big leather jacket, and bright smile under the umbrella as it began to rain instead of just threaten it. The other teen moves to join him briefly, opening up his own umbrella before stepping away. Dean was caught with how blue the other teen’s eyes were before the other teen said, “Castiel.”

“Huh?”

“My name is Castiel. Yours is Dean.”

Dean smiles again at that, the two walking side-by-side in a sort of odd pairing as the rain begins to fall a bit heavier now. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Cas. I don’t really know anyone that goes to the school, but I’ve heard most of the people there are pretty nice.”

“My cousin Hannah goes there, and my uncle Michael believes the charter to be the best choice, as it offers the widest range of classes and extracurricular activities. He apparently is...upset...that I’m only here for a year before I have to start college.”

“You got one in particular you want to head to?”

“I have a lot of choices,” Castiel tells him, “but I haven’t decided yet.” He glances at Dean as they reach the intersection. “Thank you for walking with me. Even though it’s a small town, it can take some getting used to.”

Dean snorts, shrugging, “I wouldn’t know, since I lived here my whole life. It’s small, but it’s got it’s perks.” He waves to Castiel. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Cas.”

“Castiel.”

Dean ignores him as he heads to school, doing his best to ignore the rain as it continues to pour down on the town. Cas seemed nice, and different from the others like that Gabe guy at the new superstore. At least now, Charlie and Jo would have someone normal to hang out with.

Dean ducks down the alleyway right before the high school, changing into his work clothing, before he races to his job. The small talk might make him a minute or two later than his normal routine, but Dean’ll take the hit if it means having a good conversation. Besides, no harm in pretending he actually goes to school, right?

—

It had gotten really foggy, the type that rolled in and covered all of the town to the point where driving might be a hassle. She wasn’t thinking about that - her work at Junes meant that she had to get out of class early, but luckily the private school allowed for her to leave, unlike the public school or that charter one. She was normally the only one out at this time of day, but in front of her, someone was standing, looking upwards, and that prompts her to look up as well.

One of the houses had an old-school, huge antenna built into it. Normally, on sunny or foggy days, that was one good place to look up at and walk by, figure out where you were going. Today, though...there was a figure on the antenna, twisted and looking like some sort of a jigsaw puzzle of a person, the pieces having fallen from the sky onto the antenna. She feels himself shake as she looked at it, trapped at the sight of a body lying like someone had tossed it onto the antenna from somewhere far above them.

She came out of it when she heard someone talking, saying where they were and that there was a dead body. That got her to look up, seeing the other person racing off, the phone dangling down from the cradle as she walked over, hearing the voice on the other end trying to get more information.

“Yes...yes, I’m Jessica Moore...there’s a body...”

—

_The body of the announcer Ashley Frank was found earlier today in fog-shrouded Lawrence. As you may remember, Ms. Frank was on leave after conflicting reports about alleged sexual misconduct with one of the mayor’s right-hand men, Christian Campbell. Mr. Campbell’s wife, Arlene, is pursuing damages against the tv station and Ms. Frank’s estate for slander. Later today, we’ll have our exclusive interview with the young woman who found the body._

_And now, the weather..._

—

“I can’t believe you did that to her DVD,” Meg said as she hands Gabriel the bag of ice to put over the bruise he’d gotten from crashing his bike and the rather well-placed kick that one of their friends, a red-headed girl named Charlie, for the destruction of something she’d let him borrow. They were at Biggersons, the superstore with a small restaurant to the side, and Castiel was eating a fry as he listened to the two talk. Gabriel had somewhat ‘adopted’ Castiel as a fellow ‘refugee’ from the city after the introduction by Hannah. He also was treating Castiel to lunch after being pulled him out of the garbage can Gabriel had fallen into while attempting to ride a bike full-speed downhill. The sound of the gears probably meant it was not in the best of shape, and Castiel suspected this was more a bribe then out of gratitude.

“I’m more amazed she _had_ that DVD,” Gabriel mutters, “and you just came over to laugh at the manager’s idiot son.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny those horrible, horrible allegations.”

“Which is a ‘yes’,” the dark-skinned employee, Kali, said with a grin as she came over to check on Gabriel as well, “and also that you need to take some responsibility for your actions. You’d think a manager’s son would at least know how to keep people happy.”

“What makes you think I don’t?” Gabriel said with a leer as Kali’s face turned to a glare, “I’m not the ‘manager’ type, and either way, that’s what you’re for, no matter what Hannah says. So go forth, and conquer, while I sit here and enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

Castiel wasn’t surprised when that earned Gabriel a smack upside the head, Meg sitting back and letting out as sigh as she looked over at a young man talking to someone nearby, getting their attention at his worried and barely-hushed tones as she left, looking upset. “Huh, it’s Sammy and Jess.”

That got Gabriel to start to sit up, Kali grabbing the back of his shirt with a glare as he let out a sigh. “Oh, come on, the kid can’t take a joke and he’s so full of himself! Lemme have some fun!”

“You’ve got a strange definition of ‘fun’,” Meg points out as Castiel watches the two younger teens, wondering what it was that Gabriel was planning to do and what it was about these two that got him so interested. He finally spoke up as he saw Sammy lean in, as if concerned, and speak quietly to the blond teen before she started to pack up her things, as if to leave.

“I’m not sure you want to get hurt again so soon, Gabriel.”

Gabriel let out a snort but relaxes as Kali lets him go, walking off as he glances at the two. “Traitors.”

Meg looks at him before saying, “My own dislike of those two aside, something is obviously going down, so I’m staying out of this.”

Gabriel snorts. “She’s a smart girl, her family runs a successful store here, what’s her deal? Besides bad choice in friends.”

Castiel glance at Meg, noting the odd, pained look on her face as she refuses to answer, instead looking down and away from them. He wonders what that history was, but doesn’t want to ask.

Gabriel changes the subject pretty quickly.  “Ok, fine, you two ever hear of the Midnight Channel?”

“What’s that?” Meg asks, obviously curious.

“It’s just something fun,” Gabriel says with a smirk, “you wait until midnight when it’s raining and sit in front of a television when it’s off. You’re supposed to see your soulmate in the tv. Neat, huh? Ah, if only I could see dear Kali...”

“That...wait, you haven’t tried it yet?”

Castiel smiles a bit at Gabriel’s look before he huffs out, “Look, just try it tonight! It’s raining, and what do you have to lose? Besides, someone said that they were apparently soulmates with that lady from the news, the one who decided to try to sex it up with a Campbell?”

“You don’t know the whole story on that one,” Meg points out, her mood souring again almost instantly, “and I resent your attempt to slut-shame a dead woman.”

That brought Gabriel up short. “Wait...when did this happen?”

The two frown at him, Castiel answering, “Yesterday afternoon, someone found her body. It was all over the news, and the school was talking about it all day.”

Gabriel looks confused before Castiel adds, “The name wasn’t mentioned until a little while ago, but it was heavily implied who it was.”

Gabriel still let out a sigh. “Great. Now with a murder, what am I supposed to do?”

“I’m beginning to wonder why we’re even friends,” Meg mutters, and Castiel found himself agreeing.

—

When Sam gets home, Dad was still out on the job, and the whole house is a mess. Sam lets out a frustrated sigh, wishing that he wasn’t the only one here who did work, instead noticing the sleeping pile of dirty clothing on the couch, signaling where Dean had gone to sleep this time and how useless he was at doing simple freakin’ chores.

Sam moves to do his few designated chores, making sure everything was ok and dragging in the now-wet (again) laundry from outside as it started to rain. He briefly considered dumping it on Dean, since it was his job to do the laundry this week, but instead put them up to dry and went upstairs to study. He’d remind Dean of his issues next time, and besides, he didn’t need to get the clothing dirty from the oil and muck Dean always brought in and never cleaned up himself.

The sound of someone coming in, and Dad’s yell of “DAMNIT, DEAN!” prompts Sam to put on his headphones and hunch over his work. He hopes that whatever had happened with Jess, she was ok. She seemed so upset earlier, and he’d seen a few glimpses of that ‘interview’ with the person who found the body...that was probably Jess. But that just meant that something bad might happen, and she hadn’t told him. Probably because of his reputation, or at least his family reputation.

Sam hated that. It wasn’t his fault that Dad and Dean gave them a bad reputation, or that Dean especially seemed particularly focused on _not_ cleaning up their freakin’ acts.

When the sounds from downstairs threatened to reach through his headphones, Sam turned the volume up, grateful for his grades so he could push through, get a scholarship, and get as far away from this nowhere town. He couldn’t wait to leave, and bring Jess with him.

—

Castiel wonders what he was doing as he sat, looking at the small, old analog tv that Jody had put in the spare room. It got the same cable as downstairs, and he supposes most of it was because Jody Mills understood the need for everyone in the house to have privacy. Considering that the deputy was currently raising a girl with troubled past, Castiel isn’t surprised that each room has enough entertainment stuff to keep someone occupied, if they weren’t focused on school work. He isn’t quite getting along with the other resident - Alex doesn’t talk to strangers - but so long as he isn’t bothering her, she doesn’t bother him.

The sound of rain pattering against the window as he looks at the black tv screen is a balm on the near-constant, low-grade headache he’s had since he arrived in Lawrence. At least he had something to do, though he also wondered about what Gabriel’s purpose was in telling them such a silly urban legend. Gabriel doesn’t seem to be the type of person to tell such a legend when he could instead make everyone look like a fool.

Castiel lets out a sigh as the seconds tick by, nothing coming up on the TV as it started to get towards midnight. He got up, walking towards the small day bed in the corner of the room before the TV suddenly on, static making the image of a familiar woman, her hair long and blond, hard to make out. He sees her looking confused before she bent over something. The static thickened before the scene shifted, the picture looking like it was in an old VCR when the tracking wasn’t quite working as unseen things attacks the woman, causing her to writhe in pain. As the screen began to go black again, Castiel’s headache suddenly morphed from the low-grade one to a full on _migraine_ , like something was trying burst out of his head.

**_I am thou, thou art I..._ **

**_Thou art the one who opens the door. Open thine eyes and see the truth!_ **

Castiel bit back a scream of pain as it reached it’s peak, seeing a nervous-looking man writing in a book, and a woman in a business suit, sitting calming, in what looked like the back of a moving limo bathed in white and blue light. She looks at him with a small smile, one of business, and like everything was falling into place. Before her was a stack of cards, and when she put a hand over them, they flew out to various places before him. Two turn over, revealing themselves.

“ _The Tower in the upright position - a terrible catastrophe will befall where you go—”_

 **_The woman with long, curling dark hair and a hidden face under a ballcap walks up with a smile, offering a job and shaking his hand before the headache started, a low-level pounding that he couldn’t seem to get rid of no matter what. “_ ** _Just give it some thought. You don’t want to be bored, do you? **”**_

 **You wish to learn the truth then?** The voice was strange, and he couldn’t place it, but it frightens him, **Try to catch it.**

 **_Walking back home and seeing a pair of women chatting, one saying quietly, “_ ** _I heard it was hanging from the antenna...”_

 **_“_ ** _The Moon, in an upright position, representing mystery. It seems... **” the business-suited woman intoned gravely, without turning over the other cards, “** that you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. **”**_

There was a sound of thunder outside, a popping sound like lightbulbs breaking, and Castiel reaches out to the screen, something telling him he had to, that it would make sense, that the woman he’d seen was in _pain_ , that he had to _save her_ and...

—

“You ok?” Dean asks when he sees Castiel during the walk towards school the next day, the other teen looking concerned as Castiel trudges to school in the mist and light rain, holding out his umbrella for Castiel to walk under. Castiel had forgotten his own that day, partly due to the continued headache, not to mention sleeping in after whatever had happened last night. It had resulted in Castiel having to rush just to get to where he was now. The rain didn’t help his headache anymore than the company did, though the company was far more welcome.

“I had a hard time going to sleep,” Castiel mutters, not about to tell someone that the only thing that kept him from falling into a TV last night was the fact that it was smaller than he was. Or that pulling himself out had sent him backwards and into a low desk, which had resulted in even more of a headache and a bruise on the back of his head to go with it.

“You too? I dunno why, but last night man...” Dean shakes his head in sympathy “I think it’s the rain and stuff. It’s been getting bad in the last few months. Never been bad enough to cause that fog we got a few days ago.”

“Hopefully it won’t get too bad,” Castiel says, the two walking and Castiel looking distastefully at the distance between  himself and the school, the rain still dropping down enough to soak anything without cover. He heard the other teen sigh before there was a light nudge at his arm. “Here, take it.”

Castiel glances at the offered umbrella handle in surprise. “You’ll get a cold.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dean told him with a shrug, “I don’t really need it.”

Castiel slowly takes the offered umbrella as Dean ducks out, the rain - more a rather persistent mist that had rather large but consistent raindrops, falling down on him. “Besides, you had a rough night.”

Castiel looks at him, noting the dark circles under his eyes before he points out, “So did you.”

“I just had a lot of work to do,” Dean says with a shrug as his hair slowly plastered itself against his head, the rain turning it darker than its usual dark blond, “and either way, you’re the best thing that’s happened here in a long time.”

Castiel blinks at that as Dean gives him a smile, turning and waving, “Besides, I can always get the umbrella back tomorrow, right?”

“R-right.”

“Ok then. I mean, unless you wanna meet up somewhere tomorrow? I know a good place to get some food.”

Castiel blinks again, tilting his head and looking at Dean curiously before he says, “That would be nice.”

Dean’s smile grew then, turning almost into something that was a genuine smile, and it felt like the world was a bit brighter, despite the rain. Castiel couldn’t help but smile as well, and finally shifts so the umbrella went up a bit. “I’ll return this when we meet again.”

“Deal.”

—

Castiel regrets telling Gabriel the moment after the other teen starts speculating and determines that they _had_ to go to Junes to see if it was a dream or real. He also had to somewhat regret that Kali had sent Meg to watch over them again. He almost wished Hannah wasn’t so busy with her work, or he might have snuck out with her instead of being dragged back to Biggersons.

“Oh come on, I’m not gonna steal anything,” Gabriel protests when she’d follows them to the electronics department, watching them with her arms folded and an angry look on her face.

“No, you’re just going to give a discount to your friends because you think that the manager’s son gets a free pass on everything,” Meg points out, “So of course I’m going to see what you’re doing with Clarence here.”

“Castiel.”

“Whatever, Clarence,” Meg says as they glance at the huge TV, smiling at him before she saw the price tag and blinks.

“Is that...holy hell, no wonder Kali sent me here. I wouldn’t put it past Gabe to steal one of these so he could sell it.”

“HEY, I don’t have to take this,” Gabriel says, sounding indignant as Castiel moves forward, not wanting to do this but also feeling that he should at least do something, show them...something. Something, like last night, pulls him towards the tv and he listens as Gabriel tells Meg, “Besides, you shouldn’t be here, Masters, you chickened out. I bet you didn’t even watch it last night.”

She let an annoyed sound as Castiel approaches and reaches out his hand to the enormous screen. “You got to be...”

Castiel’s hand goes into the screen, everyone suddenly going quiet before Meg and Gabriel start to talk over each other. Neither sound particularly happy or calm, and Castiel isn’t surprised. He’s frozen by the fact that this wasn’t a dream, this really works, and what that means for everything else.

“H-holy—.”“Y-you’re...how the hell, Clarence?”“SHIT, CUSTOMERS!”

Before Castiel could pull his hand out, he felt someone, then another one, hit him and he stumbles, falling forward and in, hearing Gabriel and Meg let out angry and surprised yelps before they fall forward as well, all three going into the TV. The fall is scary, everyone tumbling down and twisting before Castiel hits something hard, but with enough give to allow him to tumble a bit before he heard two other bodies hit nearby. Castiel tries to look around and see them, but the fog that surrounds them is thick, almost a sickly yellow color, and he barely managed to even see the wood his hands are pushing down on. He doesn’t see the pattern either - the huge target of black and red, with multiple white outlines like the ones made by police around dead bodies - and instead groans before saying, “Is everyone ok?”

“Oh...I think my butts cracked...” Gabriel’s pained voice comes from his left side, and he barely sees the sitting figure in the fog.

“That’s nothing new,” Meg gripes from his right, close enough to actually see. She looks like she was trying to get her body to not hurt as much as it did. Castiel moves slowly to help Meg up as he sees the outline of Gabriel slowly rise to his left.

“Remind me to smack Kali for ‘suggesting’ I do something like this,” Meg mutters as she stands, the dark-haired teen giving him a brief smile for the help. Finally standing and looking around, everyone pauses to take in the strange thing they see through the thick, yellow fog.

“The hell are we, a movie studio?” Meg wonders, frowning at the bare outlines of metal scaffolding that the fog shrouds as easily as everything else, a few dimmed spotlight doing nothing to clear the fog.

“Well, we’re not in Biggersons, I doubt we’re anywhere that we can get back from, unless one of us brought wings, and I can’t see shit. I think we’re allowed _one_ dumb question when it _looks_ like a fog-shrouded movie studio!” Gabriel sounds less like himself and more like he’s barely able to keep it together, about to scream or go into hysterics at the drop of a pin.

“Chill,” Meg says coldly, though Castiel is close enough to see her shivering, “we’re not getting back if you start yelling at us when this was your idea.” Everyone quiets, Castiel having to admit the atmosphere and strange pushing sensation, the sense of _wrongness_ , is probably making them irritable, not just their situation. Castiel takes in a breath and shakes his head, trying to clear it.

“I would think there’s a way out, instead of this being some sort of oubliette with one entrance.”

“What now?” Meg asks as Gabriel began muttering darkly to himself.

“It’s a place people throw things they don’t want,” Castiel says, “one entrance, no exit.”

“Um...I hate to break up our worse-case scenario party,” Gabriel interrupts, getting them all to look into the fog where he points, “but...what’s that?”

Something was walking towards them, eyes shining in the dense fog, what looked like triangular wolf or dog ears barely visible, and the sound of something like claws clicking on the ground near them. Even through the thick fog, they know it’s at least as tall as they are, and it sounds dangerous.

The trio turns and runs, no one really looking at where they were going as they followed the fastest one - in this case, Gabriel - up some walkways and out, going around until exhaustion makes them all stop, panting near a door with a black and red spiral doorway, only...

“This looks like my apartment building,” Meg mutters as she glances around, testing a door but frowning when it remains firmly shut, more like a part of a wall than a door. “But...what the hell is this place?”

“I’m more worried about whatever the hell was behind us,” Gabriel pants, “Please tell me it’s gone, or if it isn’t, that it’s not gonna eat us.”

Meg continues testing the doors instead of answering, Gabriel joining her as Castiel looks around. In the distance, the sky was different, almost the same dizzying, red-black swirl color, and if anything, the dark sense he’d gotten in the place they’d run from is even heavier here.

“Jackpot!” Gabriel says as he opens up the door with the swirl on it, the group quickly spilling in before everyone comes to a stuttering halt. The inside was not an exit, but looks more like a hotel room of some sort, Meg letting out a frustrated growl before they took in the rest of the room.

In the middle of the room, hanging from a low light, was what looked like a scarf, tied in a noose, with a knocked over chair under it. All around them were posters and photos, defaced and ruined, and more words scrawled over the walls, many of them the type of things you saw on shows where people read ‘mean tweets’ to female announcers. Gabriel winces as he sees some of the written bits, glancing back at Meg and Castiel.

“What the hell is this?” Meg asks, sounding far from her normal, cocky self and suddenly allowing her fear to take hold.

“Me and my big mouth,” Gabriel mutters, swallowing and frowning at one of the posters that was badly defaced. “I know that poster...damn, where did I see it?”

“We got a dead end,” Meg says, turning towards the only door in or out, “Let’s get the hell out of here and keep looking. I’m not staying here longer than I have to.”

“Agreed,” Castiel says, moving to lightly touch Gabriel’s shoulder, noticing how frightened he seems, “we need to leave, Gabriel. You didn’t know this was a dead end.”

Gabriel swallows and nods in agreement, the group starting to head out just as the air suddenly felt clogging, like smoke from a fire. Castiel blinks when he nearly runs into a thing near them, tail tucked between its legs and looking around as if afraid of something. It looked like a stuffed dog or wolf of some sort, colored a sort of light brown color with black stripe markings on it’s fur, wearing a pair of baggy pants, and with familiar green eyes that Castiel couldn’t place, the fearful thing blinking at them when he saw them as everyone froze.

Gabriel finally speaks up, asking, “What the hell are you?” in a tone that demanded answers.

The dog/wolf thing whimpers and glances back at them, as if seeing them for the first time before it suddenly got upset, fur standing up as it snarls, “You shouldn’t be asking me that question, you idiots! What are you doing outside of your den? Don’t you know the Shadows here are freakin’ out of their minds?”

“What are you talking about?” Meg asks, sounding frightened as the wolf-thing looks around frantically. It finally shoves something into Castiel’s hands - a pair of dark-rimmed glasses - before turning to run off.

“Put these on and get out of here! I don’t have time to answer dumbass questions!”

“Hey!” Meg starts as the thing ran, the sound of its claws clicking on the ground getting Gabriel to say, “Wait, then he was...”

Castiel looks at the glasses, opening them up and holding them to his face. He blinks in surprise as he realized the fog was gone, or at least lightened, as was the headache he’d had even before coming in here. It was like what he’d heard about from friends, about wearing the wrong prescription glasses even for a moment. Nearby, he saw something...emerging, a blob of black that slowly grew a face before it plopped onto the ground with a sudden, sickening ‘thunk’.

“What was that?” Gabriel asks as Castiel pushes the glasses onto his face, turning to the others.

“Follow me. We need to get out of here.”

They don’t argue, at least, and the group now follows after him, Meg close while Gabriel picks up the rear, apparently trusting where the others ran and jumped. Both stay close enough to see the person ahead of them, but far enough that they won’t slam into each other if one stopped suddenly. Castiel glances around quickly before choosing to head towards the open area and back the way they’d come, out through what started as a street and turned into a sort of scaffolding.

Apparently, the open area was the wrong way to go. Five of the dark blobs appeared all at once, splitting apart and twisting in the air, turning into strange, flying monsters that came after them with opened mouths, blunt teeth, and hanging, drooling tongues.

**_I am thou, thou art I_ **

Meg was up against his back, Gabriel was attempting to throw a punch at one of the monsters as it swooped, falling over when it hit him instead, and Castiel felt...something was inside of him, demanding to be let out, pounding against his head.

_I have to protect them. I will protect them. I have to get them out of here! For all that happened, they’re my friends and..._

**“I’ll return this when we meet again.” A warm smile that lit up the green eyes, even in the dampness and cold fog. “Deal.”**

_DEAN...I want to protect Dean too. Everyone. I can protect everyone._

“Per...so...na!”

Something pushes from his hand - a card with something familiar on it, and from it came a sudden, blue light that surrounds him. He lets out a yell - of triumph, of sudden anger, he’s not sure - and above him, something new appeared, dark with glowing, blue eyes, armed with a long pole arm with a crow’s beak edge on the tip. The being is clad in silver armor, with keys appearing around his belt, white and black wings sprouting from its back and head, the face hidden the ones on the side that would be it’s ears. Some part of Castiel only knew this was _his_ , his Persona, his other self, and it was made manifest by his desire to protect his new friends and others around them. It was his, because he was ready to stop hiding who he really was.

The monsters, Shadows, attack the new being, and the Persona swung its polearm as Castiel breathed hard, feeling more and more like himself. Why had he been hiding his true self all this time? Why had he thought he should be less of himself?

_We weren’t in a situation like this before. Now...now I can protect them, like I always protect people. I can be myself, I can show the reason I will protect people no matter what._

Something hit his Persona, causing Castiel to gasp before he glares at the offending Shadow. He growls out the name of the massive being that had appeared over him, solidifying their bond and feeling something like electricity was rising around him.

“ _Quirinus_!”

The weapon came down in a turning arc, taking out two more of the monsters, the other thrown into one that was going after Meg as Castiel held out a hand, feeling the gathering static start to solidify, working to throw off the oppressive atmosphere or be directed at an attacker. Quirinus swung the polearm again, this time the build up went out as lightning, hitting the remaining two and leaving the area clear as everyone looked at him as he drew in, then let out, a long breath. He smiles when he sees them, his eyesight clear and the atmosphere having seemed to lighten with the dispersing of the Shadows.

They were ok. They were safe, and that was all he needed.

Quirinus settles behind him, wrapping its wings around the group once before it disappears, a small, turning card appearing in front of Castiel as he reached out to take it. On it was a man walking forward, a sack over his back, and a number “0” on the bottom. The card is blue and black, with white outlines, and it reminds Castiel of something he can’t quite place.

“What the hell was that!?” Gabriel’s yell brings Castiel back as the card disappeared, sending a glow into his hand and then through him. “I mean...I...you just....WHAT THE HELL, MAN?!?”

Meg lets out a sigh, obviously not about to listen to explanations that Castiel didn’t have at the moment.

“We’ll talk about it after we _get away from here._ It’s great he can freakin’ summon something to kick all of the ass, but I don’t want to see what happens if we have more of them after us.”

Castiel could already see more of the dark spots forming, and he nods. He feels fine now, but there’s no telling how much abuse he can actually take, especially if the pain transfers from his Persona to him during battles. “Let’s go. We’ll talk later.” Even if most of those questions would be met with an ‘I have no idea’.

—

They reach the main area and find the dog-thing, who blinks at their appearance and seems very confused. “You’re ok. How the—.”

“Do you know how to get us out of here?” Castiel interrupts, asking as gently as he could. He knows, or at least can guess, that the others were probably feeling as achy as he did in the heavy atmosphere. Leaving was the priority right now - everything else could wait. “Our...den...is not here.”

“No shit,” the dog-thing growls out, letting out a breath before tapping its paw on the floor. Behind Castiel, three stacked TVs, looking like the old analog ones, pop into sudden existence. They were taller than any of them, and not quite in a straight line.

Gabriel frowns, the group crowding to look at them. “Wait, how are we going to get out of here with just...hey, what are you doing you...wait,...OW, quit it you—.”

With a sudden squeeze, and a feeling of vertigo and like they were being tossed upward instead of falling down, the group suddenly finds themselves sprawled on the floor of Junes. Luckily, no one has seen them land in the undignified heap.

They all slowly get untangled and stand, Castiel removing the glasses and rubbing his temple. They all are up and somewhat stable when Gabriel points, nearly bowling Castiel over as he shouts. “THERE!”

“What?” Meg asks, obviously spooked as Gabriel motions again, directing them to where he was pointing.

“I was right! I’d seen that poster before. There...the campaign poster.”

The group look at the poster, all feeling the same shiver run up their spines at the sight of it. Instead of defaced, they could now see the campaign poster for Christian Campbell, proudly proclaiming he would keep family values in Lawrence. His arm was around his wife’s waist as they looked off into some unknown but apparently wholesome future.

Castiel recalls that both faces has been destroyed, but Christian Campbell’s had been so badly defaced that it was torn and almost too hard to actually pinpoint until they saw the poster here, so soon after their trip into the weird world inside of the tv.

“But...wait, he was under investigation for that scandal, right?” Meg asks, confused.

“Yeah, but—.” Gabriel stops, turning pale. “The lady died...and they didn’t know why...do you all think...that room and place...?”

Silence fell between the trio before Gabriel let out a breath, shaking his head. “We can’t know, and I’m not about to think about it. It was stupid to have tried that whole thing. I’m going home, and I’m going to put the past few hours out of my mind. This is too damned crazy.”

Meg lets out her own sigh, shaking her head at him before saying, “As much as I hate to say it, I agree. What are we gonna say about this?”

“I’d rather we figure this out on our own...but I also just want to rest.” Castiel felt tired, in a way that wasn’t just sleepy, but just _drained_. “It can’t be connected to the murders, could it?”

—

There was a body hanging from the telephone pole as the fog started to clear. Gabriel stops the moment he sees it, his eyes disbelieving as he remembers what he’d seen that night. He couldn’t stop his mind from going straight to the room, the noose, and the monsters that had come after them, or the feel of the tongue that had touched his arm right before that thing Castiel summoned had skewered it.

The body of Jessica Moore is hanging upside down, her legs caught in the rungs and mess of electrical wires on the top of the telephone pole. However, unlike on the tv, there was no sign of the pain or suffering she’d gone through before appearing here. He glances around, hoping for a glimpse or sign of something, _anything_ , to tell him who the killer was, but all he heard were sirens from the police that he’d called the moment he’d caught a glimpse of it. Now, he wished he hadn’t run out the moment the channel went dark, the moment he’d seen her screaming as the Shadows ripped into her back...

He doesn’t see the other teen in the fog, or the shadow of a man who put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him further into the pre-dawn darkness. He certainly doesn’t see the red light of a camera go dead as the fog begins to lift.


	2. It Seems like Yesterday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel discovers that it's not just him who can have the power of the Persona, as the death from before echoes throughout the community.

(Thread 2): It Seems Like Yesterday...

The news of Jessica Moore’s death hits the community hard, in a way that few other events might. Gabriel leaves early to go and do something, and Castiel begins to wonder if it’s linked to the Midnight Channel. Gabriel only tells him that he’d managed to stay up and see it, and the hint that he was the one who found the body only worries Castiel all the more. The whole thing, the hint that the deaths were connected to the place they’d accidentally fallen into, and the strange thing he’d summoned...

_Persona...Quirinus Siscia._

He touches his chest, feeling the flutter of his heartbeat as he waits with the borrowed umbrella, stopping when he spots Meg walking up instead. She appears upset over something, and upon seeing the umbrella, her dark eyes only grow more worried when she looks at him.

“We have to talk,” she tells him, as serious as the fog and gloom hanging over everyone’s head. He let out a breath and finally nods, following her towards Junes, noting how silent the streets were beginning to turn. He should’ve known better than to think that Dean would appear on such a somber and depressing day, but he’d hoped for it, if only so he could have some happy spot to it.

“If it’s who I think you’re waiting for, he’s not coming.”

Castiel frowns at her in confusion. “Why do you think that?”

Meg lets out a sigh, motioning him to follow. “I know that umbrella. Guy who owns it...got a reputation. His dad or brother says jump, Dean doesn’t even bother asking how high, he just goes until they says stop.”

Castiel is quiet as he considers before finally asking, “What about his mother?”

Silence as they walk. “Their mom died years ago. Supposedly it was a house fire, but...” more silence, “There isn’t a lot to do in this town, and gossip comes up everywhere. Last I heard the brother was trying to convince his girl to leave town with him when they graduate. It’s getting more rumors starting, but everyone knows that even if the kid wants to leave, he could either make a spectacle of the whole thing or drag Dean along with him. Dad won’t allow for both.” She seems to waiting to hear something from Castiel about the information dump she’d relayed to him. “So you trying to hold out for Dean for any reason? Not about to happen. Dean’s dad isn’t keen on him having a life outside of work or them, and now his brother is gonna milk the death of his girl for all it’s worth. Dean’s not gonna show up again. They’re not giving him up to anyone else.”

“Even so,” Castiel finally says, “that’s between him and me, Meg. I’m not going to ask him to do anything besides be himself, and from the sound of it, he does need friends.”

Meg snorts. “Sure, why not? He needs ‘friends’. I’m sure you and him will be ‘friends’ in no time.”

He glares at her as they reach Biggersons and go in through an Employee Only side door. The store is empty, many people inside to mourn the sudden death, and so no one is around at the electronics department. Meg waves to the huge TV that they’d fallen through the day before, looking at Castiel expectantly. “Let’s just go and see what we can do. I don’t want to be stuck there all damned day again.”

—

The old downtown area was the same build and feel as the first apartment complex they’d gone to, and while Meg holds onto the golf club as a way to potentially drive off any and all Shadows that approaches them, the dog-creature held back, looking far more fearful and _young_ than it should. With the glasses on, Castiel could now see that the dog was more a hybrid wolf-tiger, the dark areas stripes and it’s face pushed in a bit, like it wasn’t sure if it had a snout like a wolf or one like a tiger, back teeth sticking out whenever it shut its jaw, its ears the same type as a tiger’s but with the twitches Castiel would associate with a dog. The green eyes still remind him of someone, but Castiel can’t put his finger on who. It was like the atmosphere made connecting ideas harder, and it was only with the benefit of hindsight that they could put the clues together. It reminds him of the posters they’d seen, that it was only when it was staring them in the face that they realized what it was.

The wolf-tiger thing had introduced itself as Tramp, which apparently Meg thought was hilarious, and had lead them to the location where Jess had been before her death. Still, despite what should be a fearsome manner, Tramp stays a bit away from the duo, his fur already upright as it listens and sniffs for signs of the Shadows. It’s beyond obvious that Tramp’s afraid of this place and of the Shadows, Castiel can only assume because he was not quite a Shadow, or at least, not one like the other they’d encountered thus far, who appear to have no real form beyond blobs and masks.

The store is a smaller one with an apartment over the top, and one that Castiel recognizes as one of the local stores that sells things from Junes, while Meg frowns at the storefront. “Why the hell was she here? It’s just her family store, what’s so—” panicked, Meg runs in just as the voices start, whispering and buzzing. Tramp hides behind Castiel as the voices became more noticeable, louder, the words sounding harsh and criticizing, but hard to make out for Castiel. Meg, however, appeared to hear each word clearly.

“Meg?” Castiel asks, Meg gripping the golf club tightly, looking down as Castiel started to move towards her. She was shaking as a new voice spoke up, this one suddenly clear and sounding off, echoing in the small space.

_Nothing I say matters when it’s the truth. That’s why I said I saw her steal that money._

Meg stiffens, looking up as the voice continues, starting to sound malicious. _I lie, and I’m believed. So why not keep lying? It’s not like anyone will listen to her. Why can’t I keep lying so I can get away from this stupid place, just like Sam’ll get away? If I lie, at least then someone else is to blame, someone who deserves it!_

“She...she was the one who...?”

“ _Oh boo hoo...poor me. Then again, I knew that already, didn’t I?_ ” the distorted voice, as familiar as the one that had just spoken, gets both of them to look over as something walked out of the Shadows, its eyes pitch-black, but beyond that change, the thing is very obviously Meg. “ _I gotta give her credit for thinking of it. Dad left us a rep when he bailed, didn’t he? As bad as the Winchester asshole can be, and considered just as much of a thief, a whore, and a liar as we are. Which is not to say that those rumors are_ wrong _, are they?_ ”

Meg blinks, surprised and almost fearful as Castiel’s eyes narrow, and from behind him, Castiel hears Tramp start to let out a low, scared growl.

“Who...who are you?” Meg manages, her grip shifting on the golf club, as if ready to attack.

“ _I forget how stupid I am,_ ” the thing that looked like Meg says with a harsh, cold laugh, “ _I’m you, dumb bitch. I’m the real you. The one that knows they aren’t really lying about us. The one that makes Daddy proud, that knows the real reason we’re here. Clarence is cute, yeah, but a new place to take from? A chance to say you’re a hero in something? Oh, I get wet just thinking about it._ ”

Meg is angry, gritting her teeth in a similar snarl that seems to come from Tramp. “Shut up. Whoever the hell you are, this is some stupid joke.”

“ _It ain’t a joke. I’m Daddy’s happy helper, the_ real _you, and the one here for all the thrills, the one to show off what I really am!”_

“FUCK YOU! YOU’RE NOT ME!”

The air changes, just like yesterday, seeming to grow heavier as the other Meg began to laugh hysterically. “ _That’s right. I’m_ me _now. I’ll show you real power!_ ” The aura of darkness around her began to charge as Tramp let out a yelp. “She’s changing! Cas, you gotta protect your friend!”

The fog clears quickly, both having backed up, the changed other Meg standing over the downed and frightened one who looks up at it, the club gone from her hands. The new thing is to a woman in leather, multiple hands coming from her back like a spider’s, all with huge, almost bear-like paws, as it darts to and from, as if daring them to attack. It’s hair is now blond with dark roots, hiding it’s face, but it’s still able to speak clearly as Castiel calls forth Quirinus.

“ _I am a Shadow...the True Self..._ ”

—

Castiel’s huge Persona fought the monstrous thing as Meg crouches next to Tramp, covering her ears as more and more of her life was played on screens above. Everyone’s voice spoke over the twisted, mocking version of her own, praising her father, her ability to act innocent, her attempt at ‘catching a unicorn’ when really she wasn’t worthy of it’s attention.

She hates it. Who was this bitch? Why was she going through this? Why didn’t Castiel just _kill_ the fucker?

“Shadows and the people they come from are linked together,” Tramp is saying, like he read her mind, “all Shadows here come from people.”

“It’s not—!”

“She’s the side of yourself you want to deny because you think it’ll make people right.” Tramp tells her seriously, getting her to look into his huge, green, familiar eyes, “If you don’t accept her, what does that mean? That you don’t have those feelings, haven’t thought that of yourself or others before? She’s upset you didn’t acknowledge her, didn’t acknowledge your shared pain.”

Meg wants to argue, but with all that was playing on the screen, all that was being said...

The only one who knew all of that was her. If this meant she probably was as bad as Dean, at least they both had someone willing to help them, someone willing to fight for them, even against their own demons.

She couldn’t fully forgive Dean or herself just yet, but she had Clarence now, and he was willing to deal with her and all of this. Maybe that would mean he could help Dean as well, and someone would finally see Dean for what was really going on.

Meg just needed to save herself first.

She reaches over to scratch behind Tramp’s ear, standing and walking towards the battle as her Shadow screams at her. “ _You’re too weak! I’ll show them what we_ really _are!”_

“I don’t want that, and neither do you,” Meg points out, continuing to walk forward against the windstorm that blew around them, “I want Clarence because he’s seeing me at my ugliest and even if that ends up with me being just a friend, I’ll take it. But you know that already...because I was wrong. _You are me_. You’re the side I hate, the side that I was and that I can still be, but that doesn’t change that we’re the same.”

The Shadow falters, starting to look like something that was out of focus, as Castiel’s Persona landed a final hit, sending it to the ground, a cloud of dust and static covering it briefly before it changed back to looking like Meg. She slowly approached it and kneels, reaching out a hand to touch the shoulder of the downed thing that was her hated self, but one she couldn’t ignore anymore. “You’re me, and I’m you. I knew she’d lied, but I didn’t care, because at that point any attention was good attention. And some part of me did want to solve a murder of someone I once thought was my friend. But I can’t do that by lying to myself, now can I?”

The other Meg smiles before light forms around her, changing her from an attaching demon to something different - a huge woman with Greek-style clothing, her hair as dark as Meg’s, but huge bear-hands where her human ones should be, and what looked like wings on her shoes. The light condenses around it, changing into a card, as Castiel felt Quirinus returns to him. Tramp slowly walks over to Meg, seeing her take the card offered, this one showing a Moon on it.

“My Persona. Myself...”Meg lets out a sigh, nearly falling over, feeling exhausted. Castiel moves quickly to make sure she doesn’t fall over completely, and Tramp is next to her just as quickly, still working to soothe her.

“We didn’t find anything,” Meg mutters unhappily as Castiel and Tramp helps her stand, Tramp letting her lean heavily on him for support. Castiel helps, but he too looks almost worn out from the struggle.

Tramp is quiet before saying, “Let’s talk in my den-area. It’s safer, and strong Shadows will only attract other Shadows. I don’t think you want that to happen now, not when you just figured out your inner self.”

That sounded ominous, but the duo agrees quickly, Meg glancing over at Clarance to try to figure out what he thought. He’d seen the worst side of her, seen all of her dirty laundry, and...

“Everyone has something like that in their hearts,” he points out as they walk, as if reading her mind as easily as Tramp had, “that they can’t accept, or that they’re afraid others won’t accept. If we’d met years ago, you would have seen something entirely different, the first time we came here.”

She glances at him as they reach the ‘safe’ area. “Like?”

“Like my self-loathing at not being what my family wanted, my hatred of myself, my wish to have people to protect, who could rely on me. I am passed around to different relatives for a reason, Meg. Many of my family disapprove of me enjoying the company of both genders, but especially that I am romantically involved with my own, mostly.”

_OH..._

“So...?”

“You are still a wonderful person, Meg, and I agreed to come with you because I wanted to figure this out as well. But this time, I think we both can help each other while investigating. Why not be a team? We seem to complement each other very well.”

She isn’t sure if she wants more, but this way...it means she had a real friend, a _real, not leaving no matter what_ friend, who won’t have an agenda, won’t be with her just because they heard she was easy. She wasn’t alone anymore, she didn’t have to worry about what others might say, and that means she can be honest with him again.

“Dean and I were friends, a little while ago. We both have messed-up lives, like you could see,” she admits, “and we were friends. But...his brother didn’t approve, so his Dad didn’t approve. Dean had to drop me, and he did at their say-so.” She does her best to try to say the rest, not realizing how upset she still is by what had happened. “He was my first real friend, and because of what his brother and dad said, he stopped being that. After...what my dad did...I didn’t know if I could trust again. Even if I want to, I couldn’t think of allowing myself to be hurt like that again.”

Castiel is silent at the admission, at the trust, and finally says, “The family that I’m with here doesn’t disapprove of my lifestyle or choices, and they’ll never disapprove of my friends, no matter what their past.”

She isn’t crying, it’s the fog, even if now she can see a bit better now. Screw it, she _is_ crying and needs to get it out before they got back to the real world. Accepting her Shadow or not, she had a reputation to uphold out there. In here, it was just Clarence and Tramp, and she could cry in front of them. They won’t tell anyone.

Tramp looks at them as Meg begins to calm before letting out a breath. “I think that what we saw is what killed the people on your side.”

The two look at him in surprise. Way to get her to focus, she’s bringing the puppy-tiger-thing a treat when she sees him next. “What do you mean?”

“Your Shadow, when it got out of control, it stirred up a lot of the other Shadows nearby. I think if you’d been here on your own, it would’ve killed you. I think that happened to the others.”

Meg suddenly grasps it. The Shadow wanted her _dead_ after she’d denied it, and if weaker ones flocked around strong ones, they’d probably attack the same person the stronger Shadow was angry with. When they got here, Tramp had said that the weather was opposite here to their world, but the moment the fog lifted, the Shadows suddenly decided to go all-out on anything and anyone around them. That meant…

“Jess and that reporter...they denied their Shadows too. And that killed them?”

“I know Shadows are born from people, from their other selves. If what we saw was true, then if a person confronts their Shadow and denies it multiple times, it goes berserk. If they’re here when it happens, and don’t have anyone to protect them, then it would come to pass that they die.” Tramp looks sad and a bit scared, “It’s creepy enough when the fog lifts, but the last two times, I…,” it shudders and lets out a sound, like a whimper, “it was scarier.”

Meg feels herself shiver as she considers the ramifications of what just happened and what could have happened, if she’d been alone and unable to accept the truth of the matter. If she’d been here without Tramp or Castiel to help her or offer their emotional support, simply being reminded of what she saw as her weaknesses...

_I’m not just what the Shadow said, or what I want myself to be. I’m_ me _, and I want to figure this out. Not just for the fame, but because of what happened, because whoever is doing this is ruining TWO worlds, not just one. I accepted my Shadow, and I’m not about to turn my back on that part of me again. It’s ugly and has hate, but it’s_ me _, and I have to acknowledge it as such._

Tramp glances at the two, and for the first time, as it looked at Castiel, its tail wagged happily instead of being perpetually stuck between its legs. “But you both have Personas now. You can figure this out, and...and maybe even save the people who come here!”

Meg realizes what he was saying as she also saw Castiel smile, the two looking over as Castiel says, his tone determined, “Saving people sounds like something we can do.”

—

Dean walks Sam to school after Dad talked to him, convincing Sam that he had to at least try to go. Sam doesn’t want to - he wants to be in his room researching, wants to know why Jess had to die. He can’t think of a reason, can’t think of who would be sick enough to kill her. He just knows that she’s dead, and didn’t deserve it.

He’s angry at Dean right now anyway, because Dean had spent all that time at work instead of helping him out, like Dad was doing. Dad had even taken time off work to make sure Sam was ok, but Dean hadn’t even tried to get that time off. Not that Sam thought Dean cared anyway - Dean was probably glad that Jess was gone, because now Sam could stay in this dead-end town like Dean was going to, if he ever did anything right.

That’s why Dad was always yelling at Dean, why Sam was kinda surprised he was even still enrolled in school. It wasn’t like Dean was actually acing any courses, or going to them. Hell, Sam was pretty sure he’d failed all of his classes, and now he was working for _Singer_ of all people? Did he really think Dad was happy about that? But Dean never thought about that - it was why it took Dad screaming at him for Dean to even drop that thieving bitch Meg as a friend. Dean didn’t think, he was just stupid and slow, and it took Sam and Dad to teach him how to do the right freakin’ thing.

As they walk, a guy about Dean’s age and holding an umbrella (even though there wasn’t supposed to be rain) comes up to them. He was dressed up in the uniform from that charter school that Sam had desperately wanted to get into, but that Dean had bombed that before the year started. Sam frowns as Dean blinks in surprise and gives the other teen a smile. “Hey Cas. I’m sorry, just...”

“I understand,” the guy, Cas, says with a smile of his own as he glances at Sam and then back to Dean. “Your brother?”

“Yeah, this is Sammy.”

“It’s SAM,” Sam growls out to Dean, wondering how often he had to repeat that to Dean just to get it through his thick skull. He smiles at the other teen, curious about the uniform and who he was. “Hi. You go to Yasoinaba? How is it? I heard it’s really good.”

“It’s a school,” the other teen says with a shrug, “I only go there because my family goes there. I’m Castiel, by the way.”

Sam frowns at the name, remembering something that Jess had said while they’d been at Biggersons, the day before she’d.... “You’re Gabriel’s friend, aren’t you?”

“Gabriel goes to the same school as I do,” Castiel explains as they walk, “I’m not sure what I’d consider him. I only know him through my cousin Hannah.”

“He’s an asshole,” Sam mutters as they walk, “He keeps saying he only picks on ‘stuck up’ people when really he picks on people to make himself feel better about the fact that he’s an asshole.”

“Sammy, language,” Dean says, sounding upset, “and Gabriel just has a messed up sense of humor.”

“It’s SAM, and it’s not like he’s your friend, Dean, not the way he talks about you.”

Dean shrugs again, which only pisses Sam off. Doesn’t Dean care that people talking about him like that will affect Sam’s chances to get out of this hellhole?

“It’s not personal, he talks about everyone that way.”

Sam lets out a defeated sigh, shaking his head. His brother was such an idiot. “Whatever. I gotta go before I’m late.” He glances up at Castiel. “It was nice to meet you. Stay away from Gabriel.”

Castiel says nothing, watching Sam go with all the obvious annoyance of someone who won’t take free and good advice. Sam decides he doesn’t care. Whoever that guy was, he’d be out of Dean’s life before the end of the month. Dean couldn’t keep friends by himself, and Sam wasn’t about to help him out with that guy.

—

“He seems...nice?”

“He’s not usually such a pain, but...I mean, his girlfriend just died, and—.”

“Meg told me what happened,” Castiel says, seeing Dean stiffen.

“You talk to Meg?”

“Kali apparently appointed her as ‘Gabriel Watcher’ while he’s near Biggersons. Meg was not happy about the situation anymore than Gabriel was, but she seems to be recovering better than he is.”

Dean lets out a small laugh. “That’s good. She...she had it rough, she needs...friends. I mean, someone who’ll be by her side, not just...” he looks down, his good mood evaporating as they walk in silence for a few minutes. “Thanks. For returning the umbrella.”

“Dean,” Castiel says, getting Dean to look at him, “if you want, we can go and get something to eat this Sunday. That is, if you’re available.”

Dean looks surprised before he starts, “You...she didn’t...”

“She explained your history together, though it took some...coaxing. That doesn’t stop me from wanting to go to lunch with you.”

He looks at Castiel with some surprise before shaking his head, as if to clear it, and rubbing at something on his neck. “Yeah...yeah, if I can. I’ll see you...Sunday, then?”

Castiel gives him a smile before Dean shifts, noticing the time. “I...gotta go. Or we’ll be late for class. Sunday...see you at the shopping district, ok?”

“Very well. I’ll see you then.”

—

_Biggersons, the chain store that was opened six months ago, now boasts one of the youngest managers after a sudden attack by protesters. Gabriel Horne, the son of the current manager, is now running the store. Our own Gordon Walker went out to get an interview with the young man shortly after he started. He filed this special report._

_“Mr. Horne, we hear you’re now the youngest manager for Biggersons, though you’re not the youngest for this town. How does that make you feel?”_

_“All we’ve had to say about this has already gone through our publicist. I don’t have anything to say to you.”_

_“But you must doing a great job if you’re able to put so many of our local stores out of business! What’s the secret to your success?”_

_“What part of ‘I don’t have anything to say to you’ didn’t get through that thick skull of yours?”_

_“No need to be rude, Mr. Horne, we are film—.” “Which is illegal, since I didn’t give you permission and we already gave our statement to your tv station, who I’m sure would_ love _to have_ more _bad press after your only good reporter was found_ dead _and the girl you freakin’ stalked to get an interview was also found dead. Now get the ***** out of here before I call the cops!”_

_There you have it. The new manager of Biggersons, as well as, we have recently found out, the witness who found the body of Miss Jessica Moore in the early hours. No word yet from police about these changes of events, but we will keep you updated as time goes on. We do know, however, that Mr. Carver Horne, the current manager of Biggersons, is also good friends with our own Gertrude Middleton, city council member and owner of Aquinas Inn, and Michael Aquinas, the current sheriff. As you all know, Mrs. Middleton is now under investigation regarding reports of the alleged sex scandal between councilman Campbell and Ms. Frank, our reporter whose death shocked the town a few days ago._

—

Hannah sighs as she glances over the empty desk, Castiel frowning as he looks over at her during their break. Her phone is out, and he can guess who she’s attempting to text.

“He’s been busy after that incident with Kali and his father,” he wants to reassure her, but can tell it’s failing.

“That doesn’t stop me from worrying,” she tells him, glancing at Castiel before she asks quietly, “I...you know that Midnight Channel thing?”

Castiel nods slowly.

“Have you...tried it?”

“Why?”

“I...I saw Gabriel on it. I think. It looked like him, I knew that outfit he was wearing, and I’m worried. I don’t know why they left him in charge, he _hates_ being left in charge ‘cause...well...”

“He’s no good?”

“No, he’s too good,” Charlie speaks up, coming over to Castiel and her friend as she tells him, “He’s good at reading people, he’s good at getting them to work, but he’s no good for it mentally. It drains him to the point that he starts getting angry at himself, and he lashes out at everyone. Kali was good to come back, but his dad put Gabe in charge and wouldn’t hear no for an answer. Not after what happened to put her out of work. He’s worried that it’ll happen again and Kali will _really_ be hurt. But...I mean...”

Castiel looks at them a moment before saying, “If I tell you something...don’t freak out.”

—

“I haven’t seen him, but I’m not surprised, after that interview,” Meg points out as they stand to make a wall between Castiel and the TV. “We got super-busy too, with some big promotion or something because of that interview. Fucking Walker and his dumb ass ‘gotcha’ interviews...”

“I’m surprised. I haven’t seen it this busy in a while, even when it first opened up,” Hannah points out, frowning at the two and waiting as Castiel moves and then glances at her. Charlie had decided against joining them, despite what Castiel had said, pointing out that she had to go and do some tutoring at the public school, but admitting she believed him. “I’m not going to freak out.”

He puts his hand in the TV, and Hannah draws in a breath, holding it as her eyes went wide in shock.

“oh.” is all the quiet response he gets from his cousin after that display. While she is pale and still wide-eyed, she doesn’t say much else.

“I like your cousin,” Meg says with a smirk that gets Hannah to glare at her. Castiel withdrew his hand when he hears Tramp’s voice on the other side.

“Hi, what’s going on? Is this a game?”

“Something’s come up on our side,” Castiel tells him seriously as Hannah squeaks at the sound, but manages to keep in any other form of panicking that might be visible. Castiel is almost concerned about what will happen when or if Hannah meets Tramp. “Anyone or anything on that side?”

There’s a pause before Tramp replies, “No, but...I think it might happen soon.”

“Why do you say that?” Castiel asks, his voice low.

“I dunno. Just...a feeling. Sorry.”

“Maybe it’s connected to what we saw?” Hannah asks, “I mean, if he’s still here but you said that they appear on the Midnight Channel while they’re...um...in the TV...”

“Who’s that? She’s smart.”

“My cousin, Hannah,” Castiel explains, “and she has a point. We should watch it again tonight.”

Meg nods before letting out a sigh. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither...but we have to make sure we can keep him safe.”


	3. Responsibilities aren't My Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel works to save others, inside and outside of the TV world

(Thread 3): Responsibilities aren't My Thing

_Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone! Let’s hear it for the greatest show in this dull place! I’m gonna dig up the dirt and have some fun with the people who fall into my little kingdom. Who should stop by and get their secrets dragged out and the jokes flying?_

_(Laughter came from somewhere in the forest, growing louder, like a studio audience)_

_Alllllrighty then, everyone, let’s get the Trickster Gabriel’s Show on the road! Here we go!_

—

To say that Hannah took to the other world well is very much an understatement. For starters, she ran in the moment they found the winding forest where Gabriel was being held, and it’d taken them too long to get to her. By the time they got there, the Shadow was already in front of her, and Hannah has freaked out.

“ _Why should he get to be such a lazy bastard when I do all the work? But then again, I like that he and Charlie think they need me. That I’m the useful one, and all they are, all they can be, are the joker and the hapless nerd. But it’s better that way, because now I have all the power. For once, I’m the important one.”_

“That’s not what I think,” she glanced at Castiel, panic on her face. “It’s not. That’s not me!”

“Hannah—.”

“It’s not!” she whirled and yelled at her other, black-eyed self, “YOU’RE NOT ME!”

The fight is hard as it transforms with a horrible sounding laugh, and once more, Tramp races in to get the non-powered person to safety. Castiel and Meg summon their Personas to battle the thing, the wolf-tiger hybrid nearly taking a hit as it races to Hannah’s side, clearing out the darkness starting to engulf her. At least he tries, but the darkness continues to roll in, causing Hannah’s eyes to gloss over. Finally, Tramps shakes her, asking as he does, “You’re still their friend, though. Even if you think that, you’re their friend no matter what, right?”

She nods the moment he stops, color returning to her eyes as she looks at the mutt, hugging Tramp before turning to face the black-winged demon that stood on top of a blank-faced things that looked like Gabriel and Charlie. “We are. He’s my friend...and that’s my pathetic side, but still _me_.”

It’s easy enough to defeat the Shadow, for Hannah to accept it, but not as easy to pull Hannah out of the forest. It takes Tramp pointing out, “He’s too far in for me to find easily from here. And you can’t stand. Please...rest, and you can come and save him,” before she finally relaxes, accepting the help up offered, as well as the pair of glasses.

“We have until the next fog, and the next few days are sunny,” Meg points out as she helps this time with moving their newest member back to the main area, “Rest up, and we’ll get back in to get him, together this time.”

Hannah manages a weak smile. “Yeah...sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Castiel tells her, “I would have done the same for any of my friends.”

“He did it for me,” Meg adds, “and he did it for you.”

Hannah looks at her in amazement, and lets out a breath that sounded a bit like a laugh. “I should’ve known. He’s always had so much heart. I just,” she looks back at Castiel as Tramp begin to lead them out, “I don’t want it to be hurt again.”

—

Dean is covered in grease on Sunday, and looks like he hasn’t slept in the past few days. However, the moment he sees Castiel sitting near the noodle bar, he smiles. It gets Castiel to smile as well as Dean moves to sit across the table from him. “I’m glad I was able to make it.”

“Are you ok?” This close, Castiel can now see the bags under Dean’s eyes, can see how his normally bright green eyes are a bit dulled from the luster they’d had when Castiel first met him. It’s odd that in such a short time, Dean seems to have changed so much.

Dean waves off the question, glancing at the menu. “I’ll be fine after I eat. I just had to cover a shift on little notice, so I didn’t get a big breakfast. I’m off now, but I don’t want to go back home. Sam’s still upset, and he’s probably studying. I don’t want him to complain about the washer going and making noise.”

Castiel frowns but drops the subject for now as they look over the menu. Dean relaxes further, looking around happily before asking, “How’re you liking it here?”

“It’s been...ok. A lot of friends to make, it seems, and I’m getting along a bit more with one of my housemates. She’s still very shy around me, but that’s to be expected, I suppose.”

Dean smiles a bit more at that as their noodles came. “That’s good. I’m glad that you’re able to find others to talk to. I’m not that good.”

“You helped out during the first two days,” Castiel points out, smiling at Dean’s confused look, “I had a rather horrible headache, and you helped a great deal. Thank you.”

Dean’s silent, even as Castiel begins to eat, before finally saying, “I’m not...that good of a person. I don’t know if you really want...I mean...”

“I’m apparently a very good judge of character,” Castiel tells him in his normal deadpan manner, moving to grab some noodles with his chopsticks, “and you seem like a good person, no matter what others might think. You obviously care about your brother, and about making sure he’s alright. That’s important. I just hope you’re taking care of yourself too.”

Dean gives him a look before he shrugs. “I am. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Castiel is quiet, looking at Dean seriously, before letting out a sigh. “I don’t think you are.”

“You know me so well?”

“I know the signs of a person working themselves too hard,” Castiel points out seriously as he picks up another bit from the ramen bowl, “You can say that things are hard.”

Dean frowns, looking back down at the bowl of noodles, and then letting out another long breath. “It’s fine. I’m fine, I promise Cas.”

Castiel doesn’t press the point, instead going back to eating his noodles as Dean does the same, devouring everything and downing the soup and leftover bits until his bowl is clean. Dean looks over at Castiel afterwards, like he’s apologetic, but Cas instead gives him a smile and follows his example, draining the bowl as Dean shifts and returns his smile. It’s odd, like Dean was afraid his action would be met by criticism for eating so much, when Dean had said he hadn’t gotten breakfast and had been at work.

The sound of his phone ringing gets Dean to suddenly stiffen, and he glances down at it before slowly standing up. “I need to take this. Sorry.”

“Its fine, Dean,” Castiel says, Dean heading outside as Castiel takes care of the bill and slowly follows him out. He pauses just short of where Dean is talking on the phone, looking worried and upset as he attempts to speak to the phone, a voice on the other end loud enough to carry but not enough for Castiel to hear what is being said.

“I...Dad, it’s...” Castiel watches as Dean’s back straightens suddenly, going from the relaxed teen that Cas knew to a soldier, awaiting orders. “Yes sir. I’ll head home now.” He hangs up, slumping as he lets out a breath, glancing back at Castiel. It’s so odd, to see him go from even a bit restful to even more exhausted than before he’d arrived. “Sorry. Dad wants me to head home, do housework.”

“It’s alright,” Castiel says, not wanting to point out that Dean had said he couldn’t because his brother was studying and would complain. Some part of him wants to argue, but at the same time, what more could he do? Talking to Dean only seemed to make him push back in favor of his family instead of himself. “I understand having family obligations.”

Dean manages a small smile at that. “Do I owe you for the food?”

“You can get the tab next time, how about that?” Dean is surprised, then his smile turns huge and he nods.

“Next time, then.”

—

“SHUT UP! It was...it wasn’t supposed to be like that! It isn’t like that!” Gabriel’s voice rings through the dark area, a stage with what looks like trees and some sort of theater production.

“Gabriel!” Hannah’s voice rings out as behind her, the Persona she’d gained the last time they’d come in to try to save Gabriel near her, huge with a hidden face under a nun’s habit, a huge metal censer on chains swinging from her hand, while her other hand holds out a open bowl with water streaming into it. Meg’s own Persona is nearby, while Castiel and Tramp make up the back, his huge, angelic-like Persona wrapping the primary wings around them while the outer ones flare around the other two, as if to protect them. Gabriel is standing, yelling at the lounging, dark-eyed copy of himself as it laughs maniacally at them.

“ _It seems we_ did _get our special guest stars! And they are all so reasonable and responsible! I’m sure they’ll help take all the blame for me? Though I heard little Meggy over there will take a hell of a lot more, if you know what I—.”_

“SHUT.THE FUCK.UP!” Gabriel screams, not even seeming to realize they’re here. Hannah tries to call for him again as Tramp moves to touch her shoulder, stopping her. Meg looks worried too but the air is getting thick, the same way it had the last few times they’d run into deadly Shadows.

“ _Oh, so tell me, and why should I do that? We got so many jokes to tell them all, don’t we...me?”_

Gabriel’s hands ball into fists as he grounds out, “Like hell. I don’t do this for the fucking lulzs. You’re not me! You’re a fucking poser!”

The thing begins to laugh, the theater/stage growing darker and darker as huge, twisting goat horns began to grow out of its head, and a snarl coming out as it said, “ _No...I am a Shadow, the True Self. And I’ll toss aside anything that’s too much work...friends and family, the happiness of others...if it means I get the attention and have a good laugh. What’s the point of work and all those things, when I can have so much more_ fun _tearing them all down?_ ”

As it stood, taller than a tree, a hand moving to try to grab Gabriel as he stood frozen in fear. Tramp races out on all fours, tackling Gabriel out of the way as Castiel’s Persona uses it’s glaive, slicing between the two other Personas and hitting Gabriel’s Shadow, causing it to let out a wail that turned into a laugh. The others move quickly forward, Meg call out “Atalanta!” and Hannah yell, “Mary!” before both huge women are after the monster, who continues to cackle with the hits.

Tramp moves to pull Gabriel away as he shakes his head, a spotlight seeming to come on them as the Shadow tries to go at them again, still calling out to Gabriel about the ‘fun’ they’d had, about picking on everyone as Gabriel shakes his head, panting heavily as Tramp attempts to defend him, a sudden, long scratch raking his right arm as Tramp lets out a howl of pain. Gabriel looks up in surprise as Castiel’s Persona suddenly shifts, the glaive changing as Quirinus pulls out one Key, tossing it to Meg’s Atalanta. The other Persona catches it easily, and Quirinus suddenly changes, a staff appearing in its other hand before it slammed the staff onto the ground. The Shadow suddenly can’t move, vines and other wood items wrapping around it as Castiel looks over at Tramp, his eyes wide and worried. Tramp shakes his head, a hand on the cut, as he turns around and glares at the still-cowering Gabriel.

“You’re being an idiot. People are allowed sick senses of humor, so long as they realize when it stops being that and starts hurting people. Why didn’t you realize it? What makes you think that you have to make those jokes, or not take responsibility for those actions?”

“Or do you think,” Hannah’s voice cut in from nearby, her huge woman-thing swinging the burner on a chain like a sling, heat exploding near the trapped Shadow, “that if you accept the responsibility now, it’ll make up for all you did? For all those stupid, reckless, heartless things you did while others cheered you on? It won’t, Gabe, but we don’t hate you for that. We just need you to realize what you’re doing, and stop hiding from it. You know that’s the important thing here.”

“I didn’t think I can handle it, Han,” Gabriel finally mutters, “that’s the part of me that created that thing - I wanted to do something so it’d, it’d get noticed, but I never took responsibility for acting like a jerk, for making jokes that the wrong people...no, the wrong _person._..laughed at. I was a horrible person, I gave up the best thing I had because I was told I couldn’t care for it, couldn’t handle the responsibility and, and I...I hated myself for leaving it like that, just as much as I hated having good friends I got attached to. What’s the point of being attached to something so good when you don’t deserve it? When everything else you’ve done before that was so wrong, and everyone just covered for you because they wanted a favor? When the only one who ever told me what to do told me to not take responsibility? And now...” Castiel turns his attention to the now-burning Shadow before he calls out, “Quirinus Silvanus!” as his Shadow pulls up the staff, releasing the Shadow, just before it brings the glaive down. Gabriel slowly stands, the lights going out, before two spotlights appear – one shining on Gabriel, the other on his Shadow as Gabriel approaches it. “You are me. I need to listen when someone tells me that, and I didn’t. I didn’t listen, or justified my actions as just ‘pranks’, and instead they were something darker. I should’ve listened...and I shouldn’t have denied you.”

His Shadow smiles as the two spotlights merge, head tilted as bells tingle during its change, now having long elf-like ears, mismatched clothing, and the happy grin still on his face, as well as stayr horns that had bells on the end. It got Gabriel to laugh happily right before he nearly face-planted into the forest floor. It was luck that Castiel and Hannah were nearby to catch him.

“You’re gonna feel beat,” Meg says from nearby as Hannah hugs him close, Castiel going over to check on Tramp as Gabriel returns the hug with a weak one of his own.

“No kidding,” he mutters, “I’ll take a fight against Rhonda Rousy over this.”

Tramp has a long cut, but it hasn’t seemed to cut into the suit, even if now there is an area free of fur. It gives Castiel a cautious lick and nuzzles against him, glancing over at Gabriel before asking, “Do you remember anything about who sent you here?”

“Huh?” Gabriel frowns as he’s helped up by Hannah, looking pale before saying, “Sorry...I know someone said my name, but I can’t recall if I knew them or not.” He shook his head slowly and winced at the small movement. “My head’s pounding like all the bad DJs are playing.”

“Maybe if we head out, you’ll feel better,” Hannah suggests, “I mean, this place isn’t good for Humans, even with our Personas.”

Castiel nods as Meg goes to help get Gabriel out, Castiel going with Tramp as he considers what happened with his Persona and its change. He and Meg had managed to become closer friends, despite it all, and the change had been…right.

_“Your power is that of the wild card, similar to that of zero,_ ” he recalls the woman from the odd place, the one who named herself Naomi, had told him, “ _empty, but full of potential._ ”

“ _You’ve gained the power of the Magician,_ ” he hears her now, as if near them, “ _and so have shown what you can do. The power of the wild card, of zero, has been unlocked.”_

_“Interesting,”_ the voice of the nervous writer, Chuck, speaks up as well, “ _I look forward to seeing what else comes up.”_

“Are you alright, Tramp?” Castiel asks, ignoring the voices and the odd feeling he has.

“I’m fine,” Tramp says, getting Castiel to nearly stop. The tone was familiar, and feels like he should remember where it’s from, but at another look at the wound, he saw that it besides the missing fur and near-cut, it was actually fine. “I’m sorry to have worried you.”

“You did your best, and it gave us time to help Gabriel,” Castiel points out, “I’m simply glad you are actually fine.”

—

“nothing,” the voice says in the darkness, more a growl than a human voice, “this is not supposed to happen.”

“you said it was foolproof,” a smoother, calmer voice replies, “there wasn’t a way out.”

Silence. “there is, but it would mean...”

The fog-shrouded district were the first two bodies were found is silent in the pre-dawn light, the thickness of it hard to see anything beyond maybe a foot or less in front of you. It doesn’t stop the owners of the voices from finding the young man sitting to one side, eyes blank and his head down, a long line of blood staining his right sleeve.

“did you leave them a way out?” the first voice growls out, angry tone making the young man’s body flinch back.

No answer. The fog began to lift a little as the sun began to rise.

“take care of this,” the smooth voice is calm, but carried a sinister, otherworldly edge to it, “figure out who else snuck them in and out. you know what you’ll have to do...are you prepared to do it?”

“you keep asking me stupid questions you already know the answer to.” The blank-staring young man was pulled up to standing as the growling voice finally says. “just keep your end of the deal.”


	4. If You Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel balances his life investigating the strange murders with his budding relationship with Dean, which is hindered by events that only serve to worry those around Dean.

(Thread 4): If You Want

**_The strange place is still bathed in a blue-white light, but now only the man sat, looking nervous as he writes in the book._ **

**_“_ ** _Hm? Oh, she’s not here at the moment. Still, we can’t be rude. I’m Chuck. Welcome to the Velvet Room. I know you’re rushing things, trying to save everyone, but you have to know also how to manage time. Your card is special, after all - it’s the zero card, empty but full of potential. All you need to do is connect to others, and you’ll see something...well, you’ll see **.” The nervous man gives him a smile, opening up his book as what appeared to be a card with the symbols of the ones his friends had gained fall into it with a soft, blue glow. Inside, with each card, is what appears to be a small area that shows his memories with each of them.**_

_“You noticed a bit of a change, right? You’re connected to the Magician, the one you first saved, and now you can change your Persona. That’s the beauty of it. With more links, your Persona will grow stronger and stronger, as will the Personas of the others with you. So...use your time wisely.”_

—

Sam frowns when he sees the dark-haired guy from Yasoinaba walking up to them again, something that has occurred more and more since Sam first met the guy. Dean waves and smiles stupidly when he sees him, saying happily, “Yo, Cas! You ok? You look down.”

“The midterms were a few days ago. It was...not pleasant,” the other teen says with a tired shrug.

Dean chuckles a bit as they walk. “Sucks, man. But besides that, you’re good, right?”

“I’m good,” the other teen gives Dean a warm smile, “I’m happy that break is coming up soon. It’ll give me time to relax. I’m also supposed to start working soon at a center. Apparently I’m good with children.”

“You make it sound like you didn’t know that already. Why take the job if you weren’t sure?”

“It paid well enough and I was qualified. As for never knowing, my parents believed in including children in raising others, but as my own…beliefs…became known fairly early on, I found myself with…other duties.”

That got Sam to narrow his eyes as Dean looked upset. “Still, at least you know now.”

“Yes,” the other teen says with a nod before Sam finally speaks up.

“So, what, your family is full of religious nuts?”

“Sammy, that’s not—.”

“It’s SAM, and he said it, why can’t I ask?”

The other teen answers instead, sounding annoyed, “Considering how rude you were in asking the question, I don’t think I should answer it, Sam.”

Sam glares at him as they came up to the fork in the road. He hadn’t liked this guy since Dean introduced them, and he likes him even less now for not answering a straightforward question. What was wrong with answering something with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’? It’s like they just don’t want him to know anything, or think that just because he’s younger, he couldn’t handle something.

Dean’s like that too, always making excuses for why he was tired and couldn’t do his own damned chores. Dad didn’t take those excuses, and Sam wasn’t going to take this one from some idiot transfer student. “It’s a simple question. You don’t have to be an ass about answering it.”

“You are allowed to ask questions, but if you ask them in such a way, or if it’s not something easily answered, you are not automatically allowed an answer,” the other teen tells him sternly, in a voice that makes Sam feel like a child. It only upsets Sam more because he’s been dealing with Jess’ death and now this guy is trying to turn this into a lecture because _he_ doesn’t want to answer a question?

“So, what, I can’t ask a question about your family when _you_ brought them up first?”

The other teen crosses his arms, not answering and looking even more annoyed, which only gets Sam even more upset. He was allowed to ask questions, and he didn’t need a lecture for his troubles.

Dean doesn’t need such a critical friend, especially not one who won’t answer simple damned questions.

“Whatever,” Sam turns and races off towards school, expecting Dean to follow. Dean always follows Sam’s lead, only this time, when Sam looks back, Dean was talking to the other kid. He wasn’t coming after Sam, wasn’t apologizing for allowing that jerk to embarrass Sam like that. He wasn’t even trying to look and see if Sam was ok, he was talking to that...that _asshole_ he called a friend.

That asshole that he stayed with over his own brother.

Sam turns away and races to school, wishing Dean would stop acting like Sam didn’t mean anything to him anymore. _First with Meg, now with that guy. Dad’s right...Dean’s an idiot._

—

“I’m sorry about that, he—.”

“Sam should be the one apologizing Dean, not you.”

“Look, it’s just he—.”

“I understand he’s upset because of what happened to the girl he liked, and I also understand that such events don’t give him the right to act like a willful child when he wants to be treated as an adult. I’m not going to accept your apology about this when it’s not on you. If Sam wants to act like an adult, he will be treated as such, but he cannot fall back on acting like a child whenever he doesn’t get his way.”

Dean opens his mouth to reply, then closes it and looks away, as if uncertain he can face Castiel. “I know. I know that. I just... I want him to realize so much, I want him to...realize what’s going on, but it’s like he’s got blinders on. And I can’t help but feel like I’m the one that put them on.”

Castiel is quiet as the first bell at his school rings clearly, before reaching over to grip Dean’s right forearm, squeezing it gently, reassuringly. “Even if you did, Dean, he’s old enough now to take them off himself. He doesn’t need you to do that for him.”

Dean winces before he shifts away, looking back up at Castiel, their eyes locking for a long moment before Dean asks, “Are you gonna skip today or something?”

“If you need me to. You seem upset.”

Dean swallows before shifting quickly to break it, looking a bit pained, either from the break or whatever had pained him. “I...I can’t...not now.”

“Maybe later, than,” Castiel says with a small smile that Dean returns, almost on instinct. Whatever it is about Castiel, he makes him feel...whole. _Happy,_ almost, in a way that Dean hadn’t felt since he was four.

The two part ways, Dean hoping that Sam won’t take his inability to talk Cas into understanding as badly as he’d taken Meg’s, and that the weather would remain clear for a while longer. He hates the rain now, hates the fog, and despite the dire warnings of the weather service, he has to believe they’ll be wrong.

—

Castiel considers the dream and what had been said in the mysterious Velvet Room, about the Links like the one he’s created with Meg. He felt that with the others, even with Gabriel still recovering. Now he had that same type of Link with the music club he’s in, as well as one starting to get that from Jody Mills, her friend Donna, and now from Alex as well. The little he knew of Alex’s past was enough to know she’d been badly hurt, and that Jody had saved her. But whatever had happened, Alex was far more comfortable with Jody over anyone else, men included, and Jody was trusted to care for Castiel while Uncle Michael dealt with his own things. Jody gets more time off from work, and therefore has a better household if anything comes up, as compared to Uncle Michael’s work schedule and his attention to the murders. Not to mention that she is very open to just about anything that Castiel or Alex can bring to her, over Michael’s awkwardness when dealing with teenagers or ‘ones like Castiel’.

Castiel considers asking Michael or Jody about Dean and Sam, after what he’d witnessed and how worried he is about Dean. It’s not a new development, but the moment to breathe easy and not worry about the murders means that his focus is now squarely on Dean and what he knows about him, not to mention what little he knows about Sam from Charlie, who defended her tutoring student when asked about him.

Meg is sipping noisily on a soda as Castiel finally asks, “Why is Dean’s family so...” he waves his hand, attempting to figure out a nice word but failing. He supposes Sam is that way due to his age - he is four years younger than them, but is smart enough to take various advanced classes, hence him getting tutoring from Charlie. Still, the immaturity he shows whenever Castiel runs into him and Dean on the walk to school worries Castiel, as did Dean’s continue shrugging off or apologies for his younger brother’s attitudes. It felt oddly like Dean had raised Sam and was now attempting to make him happy for...some reason. Charlie had no defense for Sam in that case, but still felt that the whole thing was something hurting both Dean and Sam.

“Dean’s dad is just an asshole,” Meg mutters around the straw, sitting back before adding, “and Sam takes after their Dad. Not to mention the obvious favoritism towards Sam, which I’m sure only adds to their issues.”

“Is that why Dean acts like he does with Sam? Because their father favors Sam?”

“Not just their Dad, but everyone - teachers, other adults, everyone. Even Adler, and he hates them _both_ ,” Meg tells him with even more annoyance, “Sam’s been acting up more and more for a while now, though, even before this whole murder case. Ever since he figured out that he just had to tell on Dean to their dad, it’s like open season for whenever Sam feels like he’s been wronged. The worst one was where Sam tried to get answers from their Dad, and then drags them out of Dean instead, and gets him in trouble. Sam acts up then too, like his actions didn’t result in anything bad happening to Dean.” She looks contemplative and worried, “I know more is going on that Dean just getting yelled at. Their dad works, but he makes Dean do a lot too. I once heard Sam complain about having to do laundry or that something, and acted like it was Dean’s job, not something to share.”

Castiel feels his worry for Dean rise, though some of it also goes towards Sam as well. No matter what, this seems like something his uncle or Jody should be able to help with, though he also knows that they’re busy with not just the murder case, but also with dealing with the issues of the last small town sheriff not caring for those around him because of various bribes. Jody had explained that Michael was basically coming in and burning the whole setup for the police down in order to root out the corruption, but said corruption and dealings were very deep. That had meant a new partner for her - the overly bubbly Sheriff Donna Hascum - and the equally energetic and puppy-like Garth Fitzgerald III working reception. Both took their duties seriously, and neither were people you wanted to cross. They were bubbly in the same way most dogs were bubbly, until their family was threatened. Garth in particular was probably far more dangerous than anyone thought, him looking skinny and goofy. But he also was the only other person besides Jody to get Alex to smile, and that had instantly made him a fan-favorite for Mills and Alex.

He has to head home and do some of the jobs he picked up for the summer, as well as fill out the required paperwork for the jobs that wanted to ‘test’ him out first before they officially put him on the staff. While Meg had tried to get him to work at Biggersons, Castiel’s current study load wouldn’t allow him to keep a good schedule, so the few part-time jobs that he could do at home, or that weren’t strict about his attendance, would have to work for now. He did sometimes work at Biggersons if the load was heavy enough, being paid in cash for his day’s work, but he did want to have more on his resume besides the schools he went to and the grades he’d received.

As he walks by the auto shop, he hears a clang and yell, getting him to stop and look over. Dean stood near a half-destroyed car, holding his right arm as blood slowly trickled down and one of the other workers, a large burly man in a cap, raced over to try to help out. Another, similar cut paralleled the new one, and it sparked a memory in Castiel.

Dean had flinched when he touched his arm earlier…and Tramp had the same cut on his right arm, but it hadn’t been deep enough to cut into the skin…

“Lafitte, get back to work!” the harsh voice yelled, making Castiel shift away, hiding as he watches the rest unfold. “Winchester, what did you do now?” The man who is yelling is tall and has dark hair cut short, with a gray beard and looks dangerous. He towers over Dean as the teen mutters a quiet response. Castiel hates how unnervingly out of it Dean sounds, not to mention how quiet. Dean had been full of life each time Castiel had seen him before, happy or at least starting to look more like someone who didn’t have a care in the world. Dean sounds defeated, beaten down, and Castiel hates it.

“Stop it,” the man says, looking down at the cut, “It’s just a scratch. Go wrap it and get back to work.”

More silence before a new, accented voice catches Castiel’s attention. “I can take care of these, if you need to—.”

“I got it, Benny. Dad’s right, it’s just a scratch anyway.”

Another brief silence, the other man looking worried. “You should go to the hospital for it.”

“Benny, please...please drop it.”

More silence, then the sound of work resuming in the garage, though slower and with only one person working. Castiel shifts, looking over and only seeing the larger man from before. His mind racing as he leaves the area, hoping that Dean is alright and it’s not something that requires the hospital. His father was the man who let Dean get hurt like that? He didn’t even show the least bit of concern for Dean’s health. It made Castiel nearly shake with rage, his fear coming up as he recalls the last few times he’d seen such family interactions, the most recent one ending with him being transferred here, and afraid of helping until the adventure into the other world.

It wasn’t just his fear, though. Castiel likes Dean a great deal. He’s nice, and his eyes were always bright, even with his brother. Without his father calling him or demanding his time, Dean is a wonderful person, even around his demanding younger brother. He shouldn’t be shutting down, becoming this quiet, defeated thing that Castiel had watched him become all of a sudden, or the way that he acts whenever Sam demands his attention, or when he is called away.

Some part of Castiel wants to take Dean with him to Jody’s, to hold him until he’s better, to love him like he should be loved. Some of him worries that he won’t allow that, because that would mean his brother would have to face the fact that he’s not mature enough to help Dean out. Other parts wonder if Dean is really like Castiel, if he’d simply give in because Castiel helped him, and feel used later.

Castiel needs answers, and he knows where he can go for that. He needs to make sure that his understanding of the situation was right. He knows it is, but after what happened last time, with Samandiriel….

Castiel goes to Uncle Michael’s, and hopes it’s not the same thing.

—

Michael Aquinas knows that Castiel has had issues before when it came to being protective of those he cared for, but overall his heart and intentions are always in a good place. Despite Castiel’s parents blatant homophobia, they care enough about him in all other things, so while they’ll avoid him, they aren’t about to throw him onto the street. It’s why Castiel is now living in this town, instead of back in the city or elsewhere. Castiel had already been moved a few times, and each time, it seemed harder for him to make friends and fit in, especially as he often became protective of anyone he befriended.

Here, though, he’s gotten a group of friends that should worry Michael: Meg Masters, with her spotted history, and Gabriel, with his issues. The only one who should be a ‘good’ influence was Hannah and Charlie, but even then, they did their own thing – Charlie was working with Sam Winchester mostly, and Hannah seemed to be one of the ones who helped Gabriel on his new road to realizing the work he had to do in order to fix some of the issues he created.

Gabriel had also been talking to Jody and Donna, apparently admitting to a long list of things that Michael was not privy too. That he’d stayed around to actually _take_ the long, stern, motherly lecture that followed was a nice change, and long overdo for Gabriel, if Michael’s guess at what he confessed to was true. He had seen Gabriel’s internet and cell phone history when he’d disappeared and they’d been searching for him, so it was easy to guess what he believed he’d done wrong. He’d also not been able to find any decent links between Gabriel and the two victims, beyond the fact that Gabriel had found the second body. It meant he had to accept that Gabriel didn’t remember where he’d been or why he’d been held, and whatever had occurred there, it obvious had shaken him up. The doctors had declared him clear of any issues, save for exhaustion, and his father had been too happy to have him back to allow Michael to try to push the one connecting point, as slim as it was.

Michael looked down at the report on his desk, added to the stack to one side. Exhaustion...Gabriel had to have been in the same place that had killed Frank and Moore, but he’d managed to come out alive. It was a very small link, one he couldn’t really connect to Gabriel or wherever he’d been kept with the murders, but it _was_ the only link they had.

Michael needed to figure out what was going on, what had happened, and who would be able to pull off these murders in such a short time, not to mention _how_ they were doing it. He hoped that something would come up, but beyond the cause of death, let alone the lack of any real link between the two who had died and the one who’d been kidnapped, there was nothing to give them a lead. Nothing to indicate who might be doing this…

“Uncle Michael,” Castiel’s voice makes him close the report, glancing up to see his nephew standing in the doorway, looking worried, “is this a bad time?”

“No, of course not,” Michael says as he motions him in, curious about Castiel’s appearance here. It was something else that worried him, Castiel’s possible link to the murders. After all, he’d arrived on the same day as the murder, but…

“What can I help you with, Castiel? You don’t normally come to visit me.”

Castiel shifts in his seat, looking around at the small piles of work before speaking. “I...want to ask you about someone.”

That gets Michael to frown, shifting back to relax a bit more in his seat. “Oh? Who?”

“Dean Winchester.” Castiel shifts again, still upset, “I...don’t like what seems to be happening to him. I saw him get hurt today at work, but his boss…his father…wouldn’t let him leave to get it seen to.”

Michael’s frown deepens at the admission and at Castiel’s obvious worry over the young man that Michael hadn’t realized he was friends with. The eldest Winchester was well known to the community as a troublemaker, someone who hadn’t had the decency to drop out of high school completely and was failing the few classes he had. His younger brother, Sam, was a star pupil, mathlete, and part of the drama club, on his way to great things when he graduated early with the good grades and a great deal of promise. Their father, though, was a mixed bag, both the town drunk but also working for the news station as well as in the garage he owned. Michael had heard that Dean was working there, but hadn’t gotten any other information about it. He knew that another man, Bobby Singer, was helping to run things, but he was also probably a reason for Dean’s lack of involvement in school.

It still irked not only him, but Jody and others. Hearing that something had happened, though, gets Michael to frown as he looks over at Castiel. While Castiel had been known to be, according to Michael’s younger brother, “nosy”, he’d also been the one who noticed when others were being hurt. The last time no one had listened to him, a young man named Alfie had died. It wasn’t something that Michael wanted to happen here, not when all of that ‘nosiness’ often resulted in Castiel being _right_.

“When did this happen?”

“About ten minutes ago. I came here as soon as I could.” Castiel watches as Michael stands, going over to look through the file they did have. There had been some disturbances regarding the Winchesters, but John had always made them go away before. Now he was trying to be careful, but—

Jody popped her head in, pausing as Michael and Castiel looked over at her. “Is this a bad time?”

“No, Castiel was reporting something to me and I wanted to see if you or Donna could check on it. At the garage, the one that--.”

Jody looked upset, paling, before she said, “I just got a call from there. Bobby Singer called to say he was ‘done covering up this mess’. Said Dean was hurt, badly.”

Castiel paled considerably as Michael looks over at him, apparently realizing what was going on. Castiel likes Dean, in a more than friendly way, and some part of Michael wanted to keep them from each other, but the other part, the part that accepted Castiel as who he was, realized the importance of this. Castiel was protective of even his family, but if there was abuse going on…

Michael nods to Jody, moving to stop Castiel from following her as he got up. There was no reason for him to get involved in this situation, and while Michael understands that Castiel is worried about Dean, there was no reason for Michael to allow Castiel to follow. That protectiveness also brought the fact that Castiel would do his best to attack, verbally or physically, anyone who he saw as a threat to those he cared about.

Castiel looks less than pleased about getting stopped, but at Michael’s serious glare, he finally nods before getting up to leave peacefully. Castiel pauses at the doorway before saying, “Dean is a good man, uncle.”

“I trust your judgment on that, Castiel,” Michael told him, “but I also know that if it comes down to it, you will hurt someone you feel were not helpful. I need to find out what happened, fully. It’s better for Dean if you go and make sure he’s alright at the hospital.”

Castiel gives him a happy look before heading out, leaving Michael to look at the file on the Winchesters. Dean was the main focus of the abuse, it seemed, and as much as Bobby Singer might thing he’s absolving his sins by ‘telling’ on his friend now, the police agent they had working there had given them far more information. Benny Lafiette would give a better, less biased view of things when they finally nailed not only Winchester, but Walker and the Campbells to the wall for all the wrongs they’d done.

—

Dean doesn’t know what happened or how it went by him so quickly, but it had to be because of what had been going on, because he’d failed the last time and because the rain was coming again. A few minutes ago, he’d gone in to clean up the long, deep cut next to the other mark he’d gotten but had no clue _why_ he had it – it’d happened during the last foggy morning, and he barely remembered those nights. He remembers that he’d somehow woken, once, and that had been why…why it was all going bad now. It was his fault, and he had to make amends for that.

The cut was too deep, and he guesses it’s from how tired he is. Dad had been angry at the cut before, and so he’d made sure that Dean knew about it. It resulted in him getting too tired, and now he had a cut to match the other one. He wants to get angry at them, but he…no, he can’t. Dad’s doing what he can to make sure Dean’s good, to make sure that he doesn’t hurt others like he’d hurt…

Then, there had been police, and he’d been taken into an ambulance while Dad’s assistant was taken to a police car, and despite Dean’s protests, he’d been taken away. Benny and Bobby had been talking to one of the cops as the EMT worked on his still-bleeding arm, and soon after that, Jody Mills had arrived and glared down Bobby anytime he tried to get closer. She gave Dean a cool, no-nonsense look that got him to take the wrapped bandage and muttering from the EMT as she looked at him.

“Your friends were worried about you.” At Dean’s confused look, she motioned to Benny, who was still talking to a cop, and then said, “Him and Cas. They called in the moment they saw this. Bobby called too, but I’m guessin’ that his wife had something to do with that.” She shifted and knelt before him, looking at him curiously. “Dean? Is this the first time this has happened?”

Dean wants to argue that he doesn’t have friends, but he remembers Benny cool jokes and help in the long hours, remembers Castiel’s warm smile and help, his continued safe presence and understanding. Why hadn’t they left this alone? Didn’t they realize how dangerous Dean was?

Dean remembers that he’d been friends with Meg, and had been told to stop being friends because Sam said to, not because of him being ‘dangerous’. He remembers that Dad had started to force him to work longer hours, despite the calls from the school, not because he was ‘dangerous’ but because he was ‘stupid’. And now, the slow push to keep him from Cas, that wasn’t to keep him ‘safe’, that was because Dad couldn’t have some homo as a son.

Dean finally snorts, feeling suddenly free of shackles even as fear pierces him at what he’s doing. “No...it’s not.” He shifts after a moment before saying quietly, “It’s just selfish of me to try to…to help myself. I’ll just hurt someone, or I’ll hurt Sammy because you’ll separate us. I don’t want him hurt because I can’t be there for him if he needs it.” Dean suddenly feels very tired and very, very sad, as if admitting to it, saying that, was physically painful. “Who am I to be selfish and deny them a chance at happiness? I can’t be selfish like that. Not when they need me to help out. Please, Jody. Please, it’s nothing. Just leave it.”

Jody is quiet, looking at him without any emotion visible, and Dean is almost hopeful that despite that earlier admission, she’d do as he asked. He just needed them to look the other way, like they _always_ do, and everything will be fine again. “Dean,” Jody’s voice was low, but it stops Dean’s thoughts and hopes in their tracks. “It’s not selfish to have friends and to be upset with how things are going. It’s not selfish to be yourself and not simply the person that your family demands.” She looks at Dean, careful as she reaches over and touches his shoulder, in the same place Cas normally touches. “You have friends, and they’re worried for you. So many people are worried about you, and none of that is selfishness. You need to be cared for. Go to the hospital to get checked out. I’ll make sure Sam knows what’s going on and is cared for.”

Dean swallows, finally saying, “Could…could you get Cas instead? Castiel…I don’t…”

“I know him,” Jody tells him, smiling at his selfishness. But if it wasn’t selfish to have friends, to have someone besides Sam, then he wants Cas there, not Sam. He wants Sam to not see him now, not demand something out of him. Cas won’t. Cas will let him rest.

“Go to the hospital. I’ll get Castiel to come and visit with you.”

—

Castiel had picked up late-night hours at the hospital because he’d needed the work, and he was a bit more of a night owl, with staying up to make sure the Midnight Channel had no one on it. Gabriel had not been able to remember anything, and had instead dragged Castiel into the night work as a way to get extra money and for them to talk. Hannah hadn’t been able to help, caught up at the Inn with Charlie as the summer season brought in more people, but she and Castiel still took lunches together to talk.

It was at the hospital he’d met the two nurses, Josie Sands and Rowena MacLeod, who were perfectly happy with teasing the two young men and talking to them when things were quiet. Gabriel trusted Rowena because she’d given him some sort of herbal remedy that had gotten him back on his feet after what happened in the Other World. Castiel was wary of both, because they were, frankly, scary.

The call from Jody has Castiel racing to the hospital as quickly as he can, worry and hope beating in his chest. He’s worried that if he gets there after Dean’s family does, the request to visit will be denied, or Sam Winchester will somehow bar him simply because Sam doesn’t like Castiel. He can’t even think what Dean’s father would do if he caught Castiel there, visiting Dean.

More than that, though, Castiel knew he would not be able to keep himself composed if he ran into either of them. He wouldn’t be able to keep himself calm if Sam demanded anything, and he certainly doubted he’d be able to deal with John Winchester, especially after what he’d seen earlier that day.

Josie is at the front desk, and doesn’t even bother to ask why he’s there, hardly exhausted from his run but still sweaty and unhappy in his work clothing. She simply points, saying, “Room 201. He’s asleep. It was a bad infection. Rowena is doing a combo.”

A combo for Rowena meant she was using her herbal knowledge and modern medicine. It was one of the things that had scared Castiel - he may not have all of his family’s beliefs, but some of them stuck despite his attempts to understand things, but Rowena is fine that he’s attempting to understand, at least. It’s only because he knows Dean is in the same room that gets Castiel to slowly move in, looking over as Rowena checks on an IV drip and makes some marks on the chart.

“You aren’t still scared of my work, are you boyo?” she asked in her Scottish accent, a smile on her face as she looks up at him. “He’s resting for now. Poor wee boy had a lot happen to him in so short a time.”

“Thank you,” he says, letting out a sigh as he slowly moves in, taking the vacant seat near Dean. “I’m sorry if I…I’m…”

She put the chart down, offering him a smile before saying, “I’ll trust you’ll watch over him. I’m going to go and talk to a few people about his condition.” She pauses at the doorway before saying, “We’re very strict on our rules, Castiel. One visitor per patient, especially if they need rest, and he needs the rest. I trust that, even if you’re not at work now, you’ll keep up that rule.”

“I will do my best.”

She looked at him, dark eyes serious. “I do mean what I say, Castiel. One visitor per patient, and I trust you to keep that rule in place.”

He looks at her, surprised by her sudden seriousness, and finally nods. “I’ll keep it in place.”

She nods, still serious. “Good. I’ve work, then. You care for him.”

Castiel manages a smile before looking back over to Dean, his worry finally catching up to him as he gets a good look at the other teen. Dean is pale, the dark circles under his eyes even more pronounced than they normally were, and it makes Castiel wish he’d been able to help him before all this, make him wish he understood what was going on. He needs to speak to Tramp, to see if a similar cut is there, but he also wants to know.

If Shadows come from humans, was Tramp Dean’s Shadow…and if so, what did that mean?

“For what it’s worth,” Castiel finally says, holding Dean’s hand as he sleeps, “I would give anything not to have you suffer like this.”

Dean cracks his eyes a little, the bright green the same as the ones Tramp had, and he manages a small smile when he sees Castiel, his hand tightens around Castiel’s, weak but still enough to show his care, and a bit of his fear. “Don’t leave.”

“I won’t. I promise that I’ll watch over you, and I can’t break such a promise.”

Dean’s eyes go from their somewhat bright and warm care to far more fearful and sad, full of pain and the same fear that Castiel had seen before, “it’s too much, Cas...I can’t...it’s too much…”

Castiel doesn’t ask what Dean means, not wanting to take advantage of his upset state. Instead, he holds Dean’s hand and says, “You’re not alone. We’ll help you through this, Dean. No matter what.”


	5. Lies We Tell Ourselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam begins to realize the truth of the situation, while Castiel and others works to protect Dean.

(Thread 5): Lies We Tell Ourselves

Sam’s research is interrupted when Dad comes home, cursing up a storm, making him wonder what the hell Dean had done to get their dad so peeved. He’s grateful for the weekend, though, as he slowly stands and begins to get himself ready for his own day. He pauses as the yelling becomes loud enough for him to hear, and briefly, Sam considers just going out the window again. There was a sturdy tree near his bedroom window, and it was near enough the backyard’s gate, so he could avoid whatever Dad is yelling at Dean about. If it was loud enough to wake up Sam, Dad would be in a mood and he’d probably yell at Sam for something.

“You’re gonna bitch to me about this now, when it took me two days to learn they had him?” Dad’s voice toned down a bit, and Sam frowns as he listens in. What was Dad talking about? “We’ve been working, and someone is undermining us...like you don’t know who...I’m not subjecting Sam to such a thing! Not after what happened...I’ll go and get Dean from the hospital myself...what?”

Sam froze at the last part, blinking in surprise and confusion. Dean was in the hospital? Why? What had happened to him? A new spike of anger moved through Sam as he thought about the kid with the dark hair, the one that Dean had talked to even though he was an asshole to Sam. Had he done something to Dean?

Dad’s voice quieted to where Sam couldn’t hear him, and Sam moved to get into the tree, careful to not let the leaves or anything rustle too much as he expertly climbed down it and dropped quietly to the ground. The sliding glass door allowed him to see that Dad was still inside, talking on the phone and looking distraught. Sam got his worry, and quickly snuck to the back gate, racing over to his bike. The bike had been Dean’s for a long time, but Sam had gotten it as a second-hand present two years ago. It squeaked horribly and while Dean had complained it was because Sam rode it too fast, Sam knew it was just Dean trying to get Sam to fix it on his own. Sam was gonna avoid that - no way was he going to be some deadbeat mechanic like Dad had been or Dean is now.

He still oils it and does a quick check to make sure Dad doesn’t hear him heading out, and just as quickly rides away and towards the bus stop. He can get to the hospital quickly from there, and maybe he’ll even be able to see Dean before Dad finds out he overheard him talking. Dean was all alone, and Sam had to make sure he was alright.

Sam reaches the hospital and gets in, frowning when he sees the nurse in front. Nurse Sands scares him, and if she’s on, then that means Doctor MacLeod is there as well. He steels himself though – he can’t let them pick on Dean. Sam heads over to the front desk as Sands watches him, waiting as he says, “I’m here to see Dean Winchester.”

Nurse Sands is quiet, looking him over critically, before finally saying, “Down the hall, fifth door on the right. Only one visitor allowed in at a time. No bothering or upsetting the patient.” Sam glares at her before nodding, heading down to where she’d directed, doing his best to not see how late it was in the day, nearing the end of general visiting hours. He’s upset enough with how things are going, not to mention how everyone seems to be trying to treat him like he didn’t need to know what was going on. Sure he’s young, but he can deal with anything now, after what happened to Jess. But Dean needs Sam and Dad with him. He needs family, or else he’ll just…fail, will just prove himself to be the boring, lazy, idiotic person that Sam and Dad knew him to be.

Sam stops at the door, looking inside and finally seeing Dean, resting and watching TV. What stops him from rushing in, though, is the presence of Castiel. The teen is sitting next to Dean, watching Sam’s brother and with one hand entwined in Dean’s. Sam suddenly feels upset and angry at the sight, at seeing someone acting like they knew or could care for Dean. What did that asshole Bible-thumper know about Dean?  Why was he here, acting like he cared about Dean, like he was _important_ to Dean? _Sam_ was important to Dean! _Family_ was important to Dean, not this asshole who wouldn’t answer a stupid question, not that thieving bitch from years ago.

Sam draws in a breath, trying to hold in his anger as Castiel and Dean look over to him, Dean blinking in surprise upon seeing him. “Sammy? What are you doin’ here?”

Sam blinked, his anger suddenly doubling as he stutters, “What…what am… _Dean_ , you got _hurt!_ Why didn’t you call me?”

Dean’s eyes go from surprised and excited at seeing him to guarded and almost ashamed of himself. Sam takes the silence to walk in, despite what the nurse had said. Dean was _his_ brother, and Castiel wasn’t family. He wasn’t allowed in if he was gonna keep Dean from calling to tell Sam about something so serious. “I had to hear about this from _Dad_.” He looks back over at Dean, who appears almost afraid at the mention. “He’s worried sick, Dean! I can’t believe you--.”

“Stop it, Sam!” Dean yells, actually _yells_ , at Sam, getting Sam to freeze and look back over at his brother as Dean looks at him, upset and panting. “Dad knew because he put me in here.”

Sam’s mind rebelled against that. He’d heard…Dad had been…

Castiel slowly stands, Dean’s hand the only thing that kept him in place as he tells Sam, “Its one visitor per patient, and no upsetting the patient. You’re upsetting Dean. Leave.”

Sam sets a glare on Castiel, ready to fight him for the spot so he could make sure his brother was ok, make sure he was _safe,_ and he said, “I’m his _brother_. I care about him, not you.”

“How hard is it for you to understand that you and your father simply did not care enough to find out where he was until it inconveniences you? Was your father the one who checked because his dinner wasn’t on time? Or did he remember he’d left his wounded son at work with people who actually cared about him?”

“Shut up! I care! I would’ve come here quickly, Dad too, if he was badly hurt! He’s making it up, he’s just doing this to be lazy and get attention because he hates that no one likes him!”

“You’re wrong,” Castiel tells Sam, still by Dean’s side, “I like him a great deal, and I hope he likes me as well. I also know he works hard and has been devoted to you, despite your attitude and that you’ve caused issues for him.” Sam felt his anger flare at the accusation - how dare this Bible-thumping asshole say that? Sam cares about Dean! It wasn’t his fault that Dean was always an idiot and thought he needed someone else besides Sam and Dad. Dean just didn’t want to get in trouble with Dad for not calling them the moment he could, for being such a bother to people.

“You’re wrong,” Sam growls out, letting his anger get the best of him in the face of this asshole’s judging and angry look. “I don’t like you, so _Dean_ doesn’t like you. You _can’t_ like him because he isn’t capable of being someone’s friend. He _needs_ me and Dad to keep him straight.”

“Your brother is his own person,” Castiel instead replies, not even fazed by Sam’s anger, like Sam isn’t a threat, “so he can like people that you do not like. He can be his own person without you or your father. And are you really so eager to keep him around when, I’m told, you were ready to leave earlier this year? Leave your brother and father to their own devices?”

Sam shakes his head. “That’s not what I was gonna do!” What did this guy know? “I wasn’t...that wasn’t what would happen!” He moves from the door, trying to get his brother’s gaze. “Tell him he’s wrong, Dean! Tell him you don’t like him, tell him the truth!”

“Sam…” Dean’s voice is too quiet, too afraid, and that only upsets Sam more, enough that he nearly goes in to shake sense into his older brother. He stops when a new, colder voice spoke up. “You _both_ are upsetting him.”

“Uncle Michael--.”

“Castiel, you are going after the wrong person in this, and upsetting your friend. Sam Winchester, please come with me.”

Sam looked at the fearful Dean, and for a moment, he wanted to protest, but he saw Dean’s hand tightened around Castiel’s, instead of loosening, and suddenly, something came into horrible clarity.

Dean was _afraid_ because Sam had demanded an answer, and the way he had, he’d said for Dean to say it was wrong. He hadn’t thought of Dean as his own person. He’d demanded the answer Sam had wanted to hear, and now Dean was afraid of saying it.

In that second, Sam remembers Dean’s face when Sam demanded he stop being friends with Meg because Ruby had said something that was a lie, and because Jess had said Meg stole something. He remembers how _sad_ Dean was, and that Sam had told him later that it was ok, because he had _Sam_ , and he couldn’t be selfish by having some bad friend, could he? He remembers that had been what Dad said after that – Dean was being selfish, and it was up to Sam and he to keep him from being that. And now, he was demanding Dean stop being selfish again, and he was afraid…why?

“Sam?” Dean’s voice is quiet, soft, and Castiel doesn’t look at him, or do anything to show himself as the one in charge. Dean was the one who was speaking, and Sam waited to hear what he would say, to hear the truth finally as he told Castiel he didn’t like the asshole, that Sam was the one he needed, that—

“I do like Cas. I like him a lot. And you were gonna leave. I don’t need to be kept straight. I needed you to help me, but you didn’t. Dad hurt me, and he’s upset because he got found out. Because now, you aren’t the one who says I fell and back up his lies. I’m tired, Sam. I’m tired of this.” He looks at Sam, and there’s no fear or attempts to show that he’s under duress. Dean is telling Sam the truth.

Sam can’t accept that.

“Sam,” the man called ‘Uncle Michael’ speaks up again as a hand comes down to his shoulder, “please come with me. I do need to speak to you.”

“…ok.” He followed the other man out, wanting to scream at Dean for what he’d done, for what he’d said. If Dean wanted to turn his back on his family, that was fine. Sam didn’t need him anyway.

—

Castiel goes into the tv a few days later, his mood sour and some part of him wanting to speak to Tramp. The longer there was a day without rain, the more he worries about the dog-tiger being who helps them, just as he worries about Dean. After his argument with Sam, and Sam moving in with Hannah and Charlie, though he only spoke to Charlie and his mother if he could help it. The silence had both elated and upset Dean, but he wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about it. Castiel had gone with any other subject, including helping Dean with taking the GED so he could graduate without having to deal with Adler. The two had had to speak to him once, and it had not been pleasant. While Michael had helped out Dean and Sam with everything, he couldn’t when it came to Adler.

Castiel could feel the tentative Links he created between so many become stronger and stronger, even with all the work going on as the summer months began, and even with him focusing on Dean. The only one he’d not been able to speak to as often was Tramp, and it only caused Castiel more worry with the way things were going.

“What are you doing here on your own?” Tramp’s voice is a bit frantic, Castiel realizing how distracted he’d been as he gave the dog-tiger thing a smile, eyes moving to Tramp’s right arm. There was only one line, but the pattern on his fur was now different, with a long stripe, similar to the cut Dean had gotten, parallel to the cut he’d gotten while protecting Gabriel.

“The others were busy, but know I’m here. I wanted to make sure you were alright. The weather doesn’t seem to be right for our killer to strike, if they are using the Midnight Channel to bring attention on himself.” It was something that Gabriel had brought up, that serial killers tended to always have a specific ‘pattern’ and it felt like said pattern had manifested right after Jessica Moore’s death.

Tramp lets out a sort of huff-bark in annoyance. “No, it’s been really rainy here too. And the Shadows aren’t as agitated…dunno why not.”

Castiel gives him a smile, reaching over to scratch behind one ear. “I’m glad they’re not, and you’re ok. I’d hate to lose you.”

Tramp lets out a contented purr-wuffle that Castiel once heard larger cats make before moving to try to get more attention. Castiel gladly gives it, happy to see the dog-like creature without as much worry as the others. After a longer moment, Tramp moved away, ears flickering a bit as if he was still trying to figure out what he wants to do or say. Castiel is silent, giving him time, before Tramp speaks, “You don’t...have to come here. I’m fine on my own.”

Castiel has a sudden flash of Dean, claiming he was fine as he remained in the hospital under guard. It worries him, and he tilts his head as he looks over at Tramp. “I want to be here. Even if you are fine, we all tend to be elsewhere for long stretches of time, and you’re the only one here.”

Tramp’s tail wags furiously as he tries to get it to stop, looking embarrassed. “I just...it’s weird, I dunno why I’m feeling like that. I like all of you, I want all of you to come and help, to figure out who’s sending in people and why, but I feel like I’m a burden, a bad dog, ‘cause I’m so happy when you come here. Like I...like I want someone to...to be thrown in.”

Castiel can understand the feeling, and moves to once more pet Tramp, getting a small whimper before the purr comes back, at least unconsciously. “You’re allowed to want that, though. If it’s the only way you can see us, then you can have that feeling. We continually see what happens when feelings are bottled up, Tramp. I want you to be safe.”

Tramp shifts to hug Castiel, burying his head into Castiel’s chest and rubbing all over it, like it was scenting and hoping that Castiel would stay. “I want you all safe too. I want you to not have to worry about this, for the world to go back to the way it was. I don’t like it either, ‘cause it feels like I’m missing something important, and I can’t tell you, and if I could, it’d fix everything!”

“I know. I don’t know what the feeling is, why it’s like I can’t put my finger on it, but hopefully, we’ll figure out what it is, and what is going on.”

—

Dean is somewhat happy when Castiel had gone out, allowing others like Benny to stop by and check on him, or for Donna or Garth to come and talk to him. It wasn’t that he disliked Cas’ company - far from it, he found himself comforted by Cas’ presence, strengthened just by knowing he was there - but he was also really protective. Dean got that, considering that for a long time, he was really protective of Sam too, but now with things changing like they were, it was nice to see the others, even if Donna and Garth had to ask him actual questions before Donna handed over smuggled-in donuts, or Garth passed over the funny pages after he’d read Marmaduke.

When Benny stops by to talk to him, Dean’s grateful for not having Cas in the same room. He feels like he has to figure out if he wants to yell at Benny for getting them both to lose a job, especially since Benny was about to get married soon. It’s hard to decide, because he hates that it’s because of him that Benny ended up in so much trouble. Even though Benny was probably gonna be the one to testify against Dad and his partner in the garage, he’d still lost all of his work just for Dean’s sake, and Dean could easily admit that he wasn’t worth it.

“I ain’t apologizing for what I did, brother,” Benny tells him, sitting down in the chair and giving him that serious look he always leveled at Dean when he felt he was being stupid or didn’t understand something. Dean swallows and slowly glances over at the older man. He’s in the sea captain stuff he tends to wear, his cap in his hands as he watches Dean calmly, and suddenly, Dean sees that it’s not him looking at Dean like he’s dense, but more like he’s worried about Dean’s health, about how he’s acting, and it warms Dean a bit, to see that Jody Mills hadn’t been lying. “You suffered enough and the only thing I’m upset about is that I didn’t get you out of there earlier. But I ain’t sorry for how it went down.”

Dean swallows, shaking his head as he muttered, “You…I’m not…” He can’t finish his sentence, wants to try to argue with Benny but he…can’t. As much as he wants to, he _needs to_ because he’s not worth it, he can’t argue with it. He can’t tell Benny that he’s wrong. He can’t say that Cas being here isn’t more of a comfort than having Sam here. That he wants Benny and Cas here with him now, and maybe later, have Sam come in as well.

He’s being selfish, and he can’t stop himself. Dean doesn’t want to stop being selfish, and it stops him from speaking, instead just looking at Benny, feeling like he’s pleading with him to understand. Benny gives him a small smile before reaching out to pat his hand.

“Rest up, brother. You need it. Now, you wanna tell me ‘bout how you’re datin’ the chief’s nephew?” He gave Dean a knowing smile as Dean feels himself blush. Cas had explained after the whole ‘uncle’ thing that Michael Aquinas, the new police chief, was his uncle and that he’d come to stay with him because his family didn’t like him. He’d also explained that he’d been overprotective of someone at his last school, and the whole blowup had resulted in him transferring.

“Didn’t realize he was that ‘til I got here,” Dean mutters, “and we didn’t start...that...until here.”

Benny raised his eyebrow with a grin before Dean shook his head. “Not...I mean…”

“You like him is good, brother. He seems like the type a guy who’ll skin me if I hurt ya.” Dean didn’t argue with that. “But you’re doin’ better round him too, and that’s a good thing.” He gave Dean another smile, a warm one, as he patted him on the leg. “Andrea sends her hellos too. Said she’ll make you some pie once you’re outta here.”

Dean perked up a bit at that, getting Benny to give him another smile. “Alright then. You get some rest then. You look tired enough.”

Dean wants to protest, but finds he can’t. The weather has to be changing, because he’s suddenly become tired, and that only happens right before it starts to rain overnight. He hopes it’s just whatever they’re giving him to stop any infections, not the rain. He wants it to end…he just needs to rest…

“Tired?” He nods at the question, not wanting to talk to anyone else and barely registering that it’s Doctor MacLeod, not Benny, who asks him. Cas said he’d be there for Dean, would give him his space, wouldn’t question him, and that’s all that Dean wants right now. He wants someone who will tell him it was ok. He wants someone to say that what Benny did was right. That he shouldn’t have to work like that. He shouldn’t have to…he…

A light touch on his shoulder brings Dean back to the present, out of his mind, and he looks up at Doctor MacLeod as she gives him a small, warm smile.

“Oh wee boy,” she said, her accent soft and full of care, “your bonny boy and I will keep you safe. You take the time to heal.”

Dean swallows, shaking at the thought. “I…I’m sorry.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry for,” she told him with a smile, finally straightening to head out, before Cas came back in, an overnight duffel in his hand, along with a bag from Biggersons that seems to have some items in it as well. He looks over at Dean with a warm smile as he slowly walked over to sit next to him, Dean looking out the window to see that the sun was just starting to set. He must’ve been really out of it if he missed that - Benny had been here in the early afternoon.  

Cas’ hand easily slipped into Dean’s, and all Dean can think is how steady and warm that hand is. He hopes that someday, his brother will be able to understand that too. Dean guesses most of this is still because of Sam missing Jess, but hopefully that’ll change. Dean wants his family, and all he can think when he pictures that is him, Sam, and Cas.

“Are you ok?”

Dean slowly shakes his head, and looks over at him before saying, “no…I’m not strong enough, Cas. I’m not…” He feels like he’s repeating himself, but Cas is quiet, watching, and Dean closes his eyes, trying to ignore the tears that fall down.

Cas is quiet, the look in his eyes pity but understanding as he finally states quietly, “You don’t think you deserve to be saved.” Dean can’t look at him, instead glancing down at their joined hands. As he watches, Cas’ fingers slowly interlace with his, getting him to look back up to the other teen as he offers a small smile, his eyes full of care and love. Dean isn’t sure how long they stay looking at each other, but he doesn’t care this time.

Cas is here for him, just like Benny and Doctor MacLeod, like Sam will be after Dean finally talks to him properly. They’ll keep him safe, even when it rains again.

—

_Our top story is the continued search for John Winchester after allegations of abuse towards his sons. As you all know, a report was filed by unknown persons regarding the health of both boys. John Winchester, co-owner of Winchester Garage, has been a pillar in our community since the horrible accident fourteen years ago that took his wife, Mary Winchester, and many others._

_We have managed to reach out and gain an exclusive interview with Sam Winchester. Here now with the report is our own Gordon Wal--_

_*static, a symbol of a shield with three moons and a crown below them*_

_“Sam Winchester, a moment of your time please--.”_

_“You’re not supposed to talk to him,” an older woman, with red-brown hair, glared at the cameras, blocking their way into an area._

_“We were granted--.”_

_“I didn’t tell you anything! I’m not supposed to talk to you! Leave me alone!” the young boy yelled, turning to race away as the woman glared down the camera._

_“There, now leave. He said--.”_

_“You can’t hide from us, Sam! The people deserve the truth! What lies did you say about--?”_

_*Another burst of static, with the same image* Sam was heading to school with a red-haired girl, trying to hide. One man moved to block his path, an older man with white hair on a balding forehead, who tried to subtly get the camera men to come forward. The two teens muscled past the man, who said, “Sam Winchester, you good for nothing--”_

_Please forgive us, we’ve been having some technical difficulties. Now, for the weather…_

—

Charlie Bradbury looked at Sam inquisitively as he let out a huge sigh and sat down at the library table. He just as sullenly pulled out his books and seemed to be conveying all the signs of ‘ask my why I’m upset’, like everyone didn’t already know.

“What’s wrong?” Charlie has a general idea about the details - Sam only really talks to her or Mom, ignoring Hannah because of her connection to Castiel Novak and Chief Aquinas, and apparently upset with the news’ attempts to get him to talk about what was going on. Charlie didn’t blame him - the news was painting him and Dean in bad lights, to the point that she was glad that no one really knew, or were saying, where Dean was staying after he’d left the hospital.

“They aren’t letting me see Dean,” Sam mutters, annoyance and sadness mixed in his voice, “and they’re saying it’s cause he doesn’t want to see me. They’re liars.”

“Why would they lie about that?” Charlie asks, getting Sam to glance up at her as they get a stink-eye from Adler, who’s heading around and looking like he’s preparing to come down on them and kick them out of the library. Since the whole thing broke, Adler’s been making Sam’s life miserable, attempting to get Walker onto the grounds for the ‘gotcha’ interview he’s known for, and having to be reprimanded after it was revealed.

Charlie’s proud of that bit of hacking, and manages to hide her smug satisfaction as Sam mutters, “Because they think I abused my brother.” It gets Charlie to frown at him as he says, “I didn’t hit him or anything. I never heard Dad hit him. But he...I don’t know why they’d think that.”

She holds in a sigh and silently prays to Whedon and good feminist writers to help her hold her tongue. “There are different types of abuse, Sam. You don’t have to hit a person to abuse them.”

Sam obviously doesn’t believing her, and she pushes a book about surviving abuse and trauma over to him. He eyes it before putting it into his bag as Adler walks by, looking at them both in disgust. “This isn’t one of ours, and you two are supposed to be studying, not gossiping.”

“We’re not being loud, and he--” He cut her off with a wave and a sneer.

“You’re making trouble, Bradbury. Out. You too, Winchester.”

“We weren’t--” Sam starts to protest before Adler glares at him.

“You’re just like that deadbeat brother of yours and the lying bitch you were dating, never listening to your betters or your elders. Now, out of the library, both of you, before you’re suspended.”

Sam hits him, low and hard, as Charlie blinks in surprise. Adler recovers enough to grab at Sam, pulling both of them up as Charlie lets out a protesting yelp. Nearby, other students, Jo Harville included, starts to rise to stop them, but a sudden chime over the speaker stops everyone.

_“Attention, students. There has been an incident. Please remain where you are. All teachers, you are wanted in the main office urgently. All students remain where you are until instructed otherwise. I repeat--_ ”

Adler let go of them, getting both to glare as he points at them. “The moment this is over, you are _both_ suspended. Troublemaking little--.” He straightened his tie and suit as he left, the other students coming to check on them. Jo makes sure he’s ok and seems to whisper something as Sam shakes his head. Charlie glances at where her backpack is, the recording equipment still on. Adler couldn’t suspend her, since she was here to tutor and went to Yasoinaba, but he could make Jo and Sam’s lives miserable.

If Adler tries anything, she at least has proof he’s a complete asshole and the one who started the whole thing. A glance at Sam shows him watching the doors with anger, and he seems to be texting something. She frowns as he stops it, putting his phone away as the students wait for someone to come in and tell them what’s going on.

—

The rain lets up way before midnight, but a fog still sets in, not quite as thick as it had been at the beginning. It was hardly thick enough to hide the beaten and hanging body on the water tower, the man’s suit jacket hardly obscuring his face as he hung, blood dripping down as everyone gathered to look up at the newest victim, the hated principal of the public school.


	6. Boiling Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information is discovered about what happened years ago, and Castiel deals with a sudden attack by a new type of Shadow.

(Thread 6): Boiling Point

Dean knows that staying in the hospital isn’t gonna keep him safe, not as the weather reports shows the front moving in and the unnatural weather hinting at days and nights of rain. Dean hates the rain, hates it enough that if he can find a way to get out of the hospital before the first rainy night starts, he’ll be happy. With Dad still at large, the rain only makes things more dangerous for Dean to stay in one place.

Sam hasn’t come by to visit after the first day, but Cas had, at Dean’s shaky nod and long thought, had brought in Meg. The two had had a long talk, one that left Dean feeling emotionally wrecked, but at the end, they were better. Not friends again, but Meg and he were at least on speaking terms. It makes Dean wish he could speak to Sam, explain things, see what he needed to make things right between them…

Except that last time Dean had tried that, Sam had told him to stop being friends with Meg. Dad had made him go to work more than he’d been able to go to school. He’d basically had to do all the chores that week, and work, and just remain with Sam until Sam had been convinced that Dean cared only for him. If he does that now, if he allows Sam to demand whatever he wanted so Dean can have him back again,that might mean he loses Meg again, and he’ll have to give up Cas…it could mean that Dad’ll come back, and he’ll forget again during rainy nights.

He can’t do that, though. He can’t give up that freedom again, not when Cas is…not when…

“Dean,” Cas’ voice brings in back to the present, getting Dean to look up at him as the other teen arrives. He looks worried about Dean, but gives him a smile as he arrives in. Dean swallows when he sees the umbrella, getting him to look outside.

“It should clear up by later tonight,” Cas said, “but I also had to take the bus here. Uncle Michael and the others are busy.”

Busy looking for Dad. Busy getting the case together, without Dean, because all Dad has to do is _say it_ , and touch him, and Dean will…he’ll…

“Dean?”

“Sorry,” Dean mutters, “Just…worried…everything that’s going on…”

Cas’ hand moves to Dean, the two linking fingers as Dean swallowed. He can’t tell anyone, and he has to hope that the rain and Dad stays away. It’s hard at times to focus, and other times, he wonders if them finding out, if all that’s going on, will simply end everything.

Cas keeps him here, keeps him present, even in the rain, and Dean leans towards him. Cas allows Dean to lean against him and be propped up, but beyond that they haven’t done much. Dean wants to do more, and Cas said he likes Dean, so Dean hopes that if he does try to kiss him, he won’t be pushed away. Dean’s not sure he can take it, with everything else that’s going on.

It’s selfish for him to think that Cas wants him, but Dean feels like he _should_ be selfish at this point. That doing what his father and brother had claimed was selfish of him is fine, because who’s around to care? Sam wouldn’t care about this, and even if he did, Sam was smart. He’d get it after a bit, and when he did, hopefully Cas would welcome him in.

“Dean?” Cas asks softly, getting Dean to slowly move away, looking over at Cas, a warm feeling spreading through him as Cas looked at him, blue eyes bright and full of emotion, of care for _Dean_ alone, that he’s not surprised when Cas closes the distance, slowly, giving Dean enough time to move away or protest if he wants as well. Dean sees no reason to protest, though. He can’t. He _wants this_ , like he hasn’t wanted anything for years.

Cas’ lips are chapped, but it’s so nice against Dean’s own lips, and he shifts to deepen it the moment he can. The solid feel of Cas’ hand in his, of the chapped lips against Dean’s, is enough to make Dean forget how selfish he is being, about his uncertain future, and about the rain outside.

—

“This makes no sense,” Meg mutters, “I mean, Adler was a damned asshole, but he never appeared on the Midnight Channel.”

“It’s likely a copycat killer,” Gabriel says, agreeing with Meg, as the group meets at the back room. Castiel was focused on Dean, and with the new death, it put the group on edge. Enough that Cassie wanted to make sure everyone he’d gotten to know was safe. “I don’t understand the reason for it, though.”

Hannah comes up, looking at them as she shows the website open on her laptop. “I think we found something.”

“Queen of the Moons?” Meg asks, looking at Hannah curiously before glancing at Gabriel, then back to Hannah, “Wait, isn’t that the anonymous-style lady who did the dump on the tv station?” That had been the talk for the last few days, not just among the police who had obtained the original files, but among everyone else who now viewed were starting to get angry at Walker’s actions. “How would that help us? I mean, yeah, they have access to videos and things that from the first two murders, but would that help us with finding the killer?”

“She might not, but she did leave something here for us,” Hannah points out, getting both of the others to look over at her as she points to another part of the article, “There was a string of murders that happened fourteen years ago, but I never found a lot of information on them. Wasn’t really my thing until…” she motioned to the group. “When I looked it up again, got the name of the woman who works at the Roadhouse.” That got Meg to wrinkle her nose - the place was a well-known dive bar nearing the outskirts of town, and not known for keeping the best people. It had gotten more popular since the convention center was built, mostly as a bar nearest to that and one that was fine with ‘silly’ people going in, but it was also one place that had a reputation for not checking IDs, as well as having the actual muscle of the place being the daughter and mother duo who could and would shoot you if you didn’t leave when told to. Unless it was the daughter - Jo Harville was also known as the ‘weird girl with the knives’ at the public school.

Gabriel looks curious before he asks, “Do you think we should go and check with them?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Hannah points out, “and if anything, maybe we can get a better idea of what’s going on.”

—

Castiel frowned as he looked at the tv, hearing the rain outside and seeing the static, thicker now than before. He sees one person on the screen, short enough to be a bit younger than Castiel and the others, and a flickering image that reminds him Tramp, or another, familiar outline of Dean interlaced with the smaller outline, and something else in the background. It confuses him to no end, and he watches as the static ends before shaking his head, feeling odd, like something was starting to pound inside of it again, as it had before their first time he’d seen the Midnight Channel. He lets out a quiet moan as he tries to focus, hearing something downstairs as he tries to stay up. He finds himself shaking as he tries to stays upright, his vision blurring as he starts to stand, hearing his phone ringing which only doubles his migraine. He can’t even manage to get to the phone, instead falling back on the couch as the static suddenly blares to life again, and he has to bite back a scream at the redoubling of his headache.

On the screen is a dark figure, with a high collar like those old Dracula and vampire horror films, with red blood dripping down from the mouth. It speaks softly, but it’s enough for Castiel to start panting and gasping as it does.

_“found you…_ ”

A sudden, deep fear surfaces in Castiel, overriding the headache, and he manages to grab something and throw it at the TV. The folded blanket flies and hits it, obscuring the television screen, as the static disappears, but his headache does not. Another round of ringing from his phone does little to lighten his mood as he finally answers it.

“ _What happened, Cassie?_ ” Gabriel asks the moment he answers, “ _You sound horrible. Did you see—_ “

“I saw the Channel…I saw something else as well. I don’t know what.” Castiel does his best to not groan as he rubs his head, trying to clear it. He’s worried about what that…thing…was on the channel, and his fear of what it ‘finding’ him meant. “I think that Sam is being targeted, but the other one....”

“ _Other one? I only saw one thing, but it was…weird._ ” Gabriel let out a huff of frustration. “ _Do you think this one time--?”_

“We are not letting someone get kidnapped just because you think they need an attitude check, Gabriel.”

“ _It did wonders for me…_ ”

“We’re still not letting someone get kidnapped for that reason.”

“ _Well, we_ could--.”

“They’d end up helping us and having their own Persona, Gabriel. Meaning they’d be part of the team.”

Silence on the other line before there was a harsh curse. “ _Ok, so keep Sam Winchester safe, because I’m not working with him.”_ There was a bit of silence before Gabriel asks, sounding worried and serious, _“What happened really, Cas?_ ”

Castiel started to say, but something held his tongue, making his headache even worse, the ringing in his ears getting to where he could hardly hear Gabriel’s concerned voice calling his name over the line.

“Nevermind,” Castiel finally said, “we’ll talk later.”

He hung up before Gabriel could argue, managing to stagger over to his bed and fall down, face-first, into the mattress. He could barely move to go and get medicine for a headache, and some part of him hated the way it was going, like something was trying to pull him to it—

_If I get hurt, who will help keep the pack together for Tramp? Who will help Dean? I won’t. I won’t go! You can’t make me!_

He feels a sudden, odd surge, like the time his Persona came forward, and barely manages to scream into his pillow before darkness overtakes him.

—

“damn,” the voice mutters in the darkness, clenching its fist in anger, “he will need to get them here, then. Only then can we finally have power over that one. But that will be fine. Two powerful ones, and the world will be ours.”

—

The only news the town was talking about was the disappearance of Gordon Walker from a locked room at the police station. It had freaked everyone out, and more news about Walker – the mysterious circumstances of his sister’s death, his help from the Campbells – only served to make Gabriel all the more antsy about what was going on. Not to mention that Castiel was now looking like death warmed over, and Dean wasn’t too far behind. The two had apparently come down with some sort of summer cold, and it had been enough to get Alex and her two friends, Claire and Krissy, to put off dealing with the elders and stay in and watch over them. Gabriel had to admit, attempting to get past those three would require stronger people than him.

He left that to Meg.

_Who am I kidding, they’ll form an evil pack of evilness and teenage female hormones. That was probably the worse idea I’ve had, and I was an online sexist asshole bully._

Hannah had that same look after he was done talking to Meg. “You really want her to watch over them?”

“I could’ve called Kali.”

Hannah gave him a look that said that would, in no way, make this _worse_ , but Gabriel let out a sigh as he knocked on the door to the Roadhouse. “Look, we find out what we need to find out, get out, and hope that whatever the hell is going on, it doesn’t explode in our faces.”

Before Hannah could complain, the door opened to reveal an older woman with light blond hair and a harried look on her face, glaring at them both. Her eyes had dark circles under them, and despite the glare, she seemed to soften after a moment.

“What can I do for you two?”

Hannah shifted as Gabriel looked at her, curious, before finally saying, “We wanted to talk to you about something that happened years ago. We think it might have to do with the murders.”

She looked at him for a long time before nodding, letting them in as she says, “I know about it, but I wasn’t part of the thing. I can’t tell ya much.”

Gabriel and Hannah exchanged looks before Hannah looks back and gives out her best smile, saying, “Whatever you can tell us will help out.”

The woman nodded as they walked over to the bar and she poured them a tall glass of water each. “You two must’ve seen it. The Midnight Channel started up a few weeks ago…” she glances at Gabriel before saying, “I saw you on it.”

Gabriel went pale as Hannah asked, “What is it?”

Ellen Harvelle-Singer let out a sigh, pouring herself a stiff whiskey before downing it in one go, finally saying, “It’s a warning of sorts, and a way to kill people. One family used it until the person who got their enemies in there died herself.”

Hannah swallows at that, her throat dry, as Gabriel looked between them. “Wait, what do you mean?”

Ellen glances at him before saying, “Fourteen years ago, Mary Winchester was the last person to die on the Midnight Channel, and it didn’t appear again until that reporter, Frank, disappeared and died.” She lets out a sigh before pouring herself another drink. “But this new thing is bad.”

“What do you mean?” Hannah asks, afraid for what she might say.

“Mary Winchester died the night after there were two people who were on the Midnight Channel. We never knew what happened to them, only that she disappeared and was presumed dead due to a house fire. The Campbells tried to hide things, but after that…” she shakes her head, “it’s falling apart now. If its showing Sam and Dean and another, it’s gonna all get out soon.”

Hannah and Gabriel shared a look, both remembering their Shadows, the oppressive atmosphere, and both realizing what she might be talking about.

“It...can’t come into our world...can it?”

Ellen looked at Gabriel, who’d whispered his question, before she says, “More people are watchin’ the Midnight Channel. More people are hiding themselves to try and protect themselves. Don’t matter if you make them face their fears, there’s still a Shadow from someone, and whoever is behind things now, they want them to expand out.”

—

Sam looks over the text on his phone, wondering what he should do. Last night was the first time he’d watched the Midnight Channel, and he was almost glad he had. If that was what they were doing, if that was what Dad had texted about...then he _had_ to act. He _had_ to say something.

His mind whirled as he thought on what he knew, on what Dad had told him, on what he’d seen on Charlie’s computer by accident, and what he’d overheard from Hannah. Dad was doing his best to try to keep people safe, and somehow, Hannah and the others were doing something to _hurt_ them. If the Midnight Channel was showing their ransom, then that meant that all they had to do was keep the person safe.

Safe meant something weird, something that Dad hadn’t fully explained, except to say that _DEAN_ and _Mom_ were the only two who could do it. The main point was that they’d _save people_. They’d save Charlie from whatever Hannah and the others were planning, from being hurt like Jess had been hurt and...and…

Sam swallows as he looks back down at the unsent text. It was a time and place, the one that he was ready to set up with Dean so they could talk. If he did this, then they could get Charlie and she’d be safe. If he did this, she wouldn’t be hurt. Dad had pointed out the obvious - all the bad things had happened when that Castiel guy had come in. He was setting this up, playing everyone, because that way, he could ‘pretend’ to be the hero.

Dad hadn’t seen the pattern until Gabriel, but Castiel had managed to get to him first, make him silent over it all. Some part of Sam wanted to say ‘good’, to have hoped that Gabriel had stayed stuck in whatever hellscape he’d been thrown into, the one that had _killed_ Jess…

No. Castiel had done that. He’d somehow thrown her into wherever she’d been, and then he’d silenced Gabriel, or tried to. When that hadn’t worked, he’d somehow gotten him to be quiet here now. Sam wondered if he’d also set up so that Dean had been hurt too. Dean had managed to keep this place safe for years, since the last asshole had killed Mom, but now Castiel was leading him on, doing something to make it so Dean couldn’t realize what was happening.

The whole thing was what got Sam to pause, because he’d read the book Charlie had given him about abuse. He remembered how _afraid_ Dean had been of Dad, started to remember all the different ways that Dean had shrunk away or tried other things. He remembered that Dean had stopped going to school because _Dad_ made him, because Dad had _ordered it._ If Sam hadn’t...hadn’t ordered him...to stop seeing Meg, maybe she’d be helping them out, instead of being on the wrong side.

_But is Dad telling the truth? He said nothing about what happened with Dean, nothing about what happened with his partner or even with Walker. I know that Chief Aquinas is related to Castiel, but they don’t even live in the same part of town, and the Chief was nice._

He hadn’t yelled at Sam, or demanded answers, or done anything beyond speak to him, explain what was going on, and when Sam showed he was ready, he’d even shown him what happened at the shop. Dad had walked away while Dean _bled_. Dad hadn’t talked to Sam about that, hadn’t justified his actions. He’d just told Sam that he _needed him_.

Sam was shaking, torn and confused as he looked at the information, at the text. If Dad was wrong about this, was he wrong about everything else?

“ _Sam_ ,” Dad had said, “ _that boy, the one who took Dean, he’s the one who killed Jess. It’s because of him that Jess is dead._ ”

Dean was _happy_ with Castiel. Dean was doing things that were good...wasn’t he?

Sam wonders about that. If Castiel had everyone else fooled, then he might have Dean fooled as well. And...and Sam wouldn’t get the information unless his family was together again. He wouldn’t know that everyone was safe and sound until then. Dean being away from him, not talking to him, not even trying to _apologize_ for scaring him, for all that he’s done?

That’s not his Dean. That’s the Dean that Castiel was creating for his own needs.

_I want my brother back_ , is what Sam thinks as he hits ‘Send’.

—

They only go into the TV World after Castiel has recovered, the fear and headache building enough that he suggests a trip to check on Tramp, though part of it was also to see if what he’d seen the last few nights on the Midnight Channel had any merit. The moment they get in, Tramp runs up to hug Castiel, his tail between his legs and his whole body vibrating with fear as the group look at the dog-thing, then back out into the darkened area around Tramp’s ‘den’.

“ _SHIT_ ,” Gabriel said, “Why didn’t we see it?”

“We all saw something different, but we thought that the thing was changing, after what Ellen said,” Hannah pointed out as Meg let out an annoyed huff.

“Does it matter? We’re here to make sure it doesn’t keep up, whatever it is.” Castiel has a sneaking suspicion that she’s here because whatever it was had resulted in Castiel getting sick, not to mention the return of his headaches. It makes him worried over what is beyond there, and he slowly pets Tramp as the dog-tiger hybrid lets go and, after looking at the group, says weakly, “I can take you there, but it’s getting scary here. I’d rather be out with you all then in here.”

Gabriel came up and gave Tramp’s ear a soft tweak. “Trust me, it’s getting scary out there too. The two worlds are getting too caught up with each other. We gotta break that.”

The group nodded as one, Tramp’s tail coming out a bit but still low, afraid. “Please. I just want things to go back to normal and safe.” He let out a whimper as they started forward, but their presence seemed to calm him enough that he let out a nod and directed them to the area with the new Shadow.

It was dark, the fog thicker and clogging, weighing down as they walked. He can hear the others worried as they walk forward, Castiel feeling the return of the migraine as he follows Tramp deeper into the place.

It’s not far in, oddly enough, and when they get there, the only sign of the person who created the Shadow is a prone, silent figure on the floor. When the Shadow turns, everyone takes a step back, Castiel swallowing as he sees it. The eyes aren’t black like before, but rimmed red, with the same red blood pouring down his mouth as before. The Shadow, more like a vampire of some sort than a Shadow, grins widely when he sees the group, its eyes focused squarely on Castiel as the darkness began to flow around it.

“ _Found you again. Perfect._ ” Castiel barely hears the other let out yells for him as the monster starts to fly over, Tramp growling menacingly before there’s a sudden, horrible whimper as he’s hit.

_I will protect everyone…_

Quirinus’ blade hits the Shadow hard, nearly slicing it in half as it’s sent away, Castiel’s hand clenched into a fist as he glares down the still-standing Shadow. He can still hear the others, now calling on their own Personas to fight, can see that Tramp is up and not as badly hurt as the whine had suggested, but that doesn’t stop the burning anger in his mind, doesn’t stop the same anger he always feels.

These are his _friends_. Tramp is possibly linked to _Dean_ , to someone he cares deeply for, possibly _loves_ in a way that he hasn’t before, and this _monster_ attacked them, _scared them_ , and he would not allow it to touch them again.

He can hear the others yelling at him about something, and he doesn’t realizing how narrow his field of vision is, how _angry_ he’s gotten, until he’s being held up by the throat, looking down at the growling, dark-eyed Gordon Walker. The reporter looks murderous as he holds Castiel up, the Shadow laughing as it begins to attack the others, managing to get in hard, deep hits as Gordon holds Castiel still, his Persona attempting to attack the Shadow but failing as Castiel kicked and clawed at the man holding him.

“Gotcha. I got one of ya, and all we need is the other, and we’re good,” Walker drawled, his eyes blank and his voice nearly devoid of emotion, “We get that, and we’ll finally get what we want. Best story for the news – the death of three stupid kids, and me with their murderer.”

Castiel let out a growl, still fighting as the hand tightened more, Gordon’s blank eyes seeming to spark with something else – something dangerous. He can hear the others rallying, hear them trying to beat back the Shadow, defeat it, and he barely manages a weakened kick at Gordon, who seems as deranged and dangerous as his Shadow, before Tramp suddenly tackles them both, knocking Gordon to the ground.

There’s a female wail, a scream as terrifying as a banshee’s, before the Shadow lets out its own wail right as Meg shouts out for her Persona. Castiel can see Gabriel and Hannah with their Personas, struggling to stand and looking around, as his own throws two keys to them. Between where it and the other two are, a sudden triangle forms, creating a barrier of light and trapping in the screaming Shadow as it tries to escape, and showing off something else. It wasn’t all shadow – there was something on it, a mark of some sort, and Castiel moved enough to look at the pinned Gordon before he found the answering mark on him.

The light began to grow brighter and brighter, the Shadow letting out more and more of a scream that felt like the migraine when he’d first heard Quirinus, when he’d seen Jessica Moore on the TV but was unable to save her, and Castiel turns, holding out his hand as Gordon struggles, demanding he stop and think, _don’t you realize what this’ll do for you, the fame and—_

“Janus Quirinus!” Castiel calls out instead as his Persona once more changed, spreading it’s wings wide as the glaive became more like a spear, Hannah’s and Gabriel’s Persona locking arms as what appeared to be a doorway opened. Out of it rushed Meg’s Persona, gripping onto the arm with the symbol and pulling at it. The Shadow screamed out as Gordon kept speaking, something popping out of the Shadow as Meg’s Persona threw it through the doorway. The light disappeared just before all of them hit it, the odd, round, blood-red item shattering under their attack.

Near them, the Shadow changed from being the dark, vampiric form to the same size and image as Gordon, looking at him as he continued to demand more from Castiel, Gordon’s lack of acknowledgement of it having the thing disappear as the group slowly moved, trying to figure out what to do about the babbling man.

“If we take him back our way, Dad’s gonna have a fit,” Gabriel muttered as they looked at him. Castiel doubts that anything Gordon sees at this moment will really be related to the others, and instead he rubs at his throat before saying, “I think we’ll be fine.”

Gabriel lets out a sigh as he glances over at Tramp, who looks a bit worse for wear, and who seems to see the downed Gordon as less of a threat. Considering he hadn’t even focused on the group, it was highly likely that ignoring your Shadow or whatever else happened to him was basically a ‘bad’ side effect. “Yeah, I’m not taxing our mascot.”

“He’s not our mascot!” Hannah said, slapping Gabriel upside the head, “he’s our teammate!”

“That’s what a mascot is! A teammate! Geez.”

Tramp’s tail lazily moves, content like a cat over the constant swish it normally was, and the group manages to get Gordon towards the main ‘den’ as Castiel hangs back, looking over Tramp to ensure the dog-tiger is alright, noting how its eyes were the same beautiful green that Dean’s were, but it was…different. Almost child-like, and its own shade, rather than the same, which only made Castiel wonder how they were connected. Was Tramp Dean’s Shadow, awakened and wanting to protect people in a way that he couldn’t?

“Are you ok?” Tramp asks, looking at Castiel worriedly as they approached the area, seeing that Hannah had gone out first to check and now they were pushing Gordon through, Meg and Gabriel following as Castiel says, “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I become protective of many things, very quickly. I tend to get upset if they are hurt, and…I shouldn’t have lost it.”

Tramp looks over at him, worried, before saying, “That was whatever that thing was omitting, Cas. It’s not your--.” He pauses, his eyes wide suddenly as Castiel looks at him, confused and suddenly afraid as everything around them begins to shake, as if there was an approaching earthquake. Tramp looked over at Castiel as he reached to grab the dog-tiger, pulling him along and towards the exit he’d given them and left up for as long as they needed it. The whole of their staging base shook, but the moment they got there, the area stabilized. He could hear the others yelling for them as Tramp panted, looking like he was about to fall over, before glancing up at Castiel, the fear still evident in his eyes.

“Run…hurry.”

“But--.”

Tramp shoved, and hard, and Castiel tumbled out and into Biggersons as he saw a part of the screen crack before the migraine suddenly returned with a vengeance, getting Castiel to let out a cry of pain as his friends moved to try to help him, Gordon forgotten as pain shot through his head and body, though it didn’t overcome the sense of failure at having failed to get Tramp out, as well as the fear for what was happening on the other side.


	7. Eye of a Hurricane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group go in to save Sam, albeit reluctantly, as the world begins to change

(Thread 7): Eye of a Hurricane

Sam wakes up slowly, frowning as he sees the back of a moving van or something, a huge tv or something similar to one side, covered in a light blanket. He can’t see his dad or Dean, and it frightens him. What had happened? He remembers that Dean had said no, that he’d called off their meeting because he was sick. Sam remembers that he’d argued for it, finally getting to go and visit him at Sheriff Jody’s home. He’d called Charlie about changing the date of their meet-up, and texted Dad to see if he could intercept and make sure Charlie was ok.

Sam doesn’t know what happened. He knows that the power went out. He remembers the girls had gotten flashlights and Sam had gotten ready to leave, seeing that Dean really was sick. He’d hoped that Dean would listen to him about Dad, about what was going on, about how bad Castiel was for them all. He’d headed out and seen the van, and then…

The van comes to a stop, getting Sam to blink groggily as he looks around the dark area, trying to remember more. He remembers a smell, that he’d fought, but after a moment, whoever had held him tight had gotten whatever into his system, and he’d slept. Now his mouth tasted like cottonballs, and he can barely see when the doors are opened again, and Dean slowly walks in, taking a seat near the tv as calmly as if he’d done this a thousand times. Sam blinks, surprised, and shifts as he manages to see that Dad is standing there, holding the back door open a moment before slamming it loudly. Sam can’t think on what is going on, instead glancing back over at Dean in an attempt to figure out what the hell is going on.

Dean’s eyes are blank, and he’s sitting like a doll or puppet waiting for someone to move him. He doesn’t even look up when Sam hisses out his name, hoping that he can get an explanation. Sam glances around, trying to figure out what was going on as his mind began to clear. Whoever has them, he’s done something to Dean, and Sam has to wake him up or do…something. He has to get Dean out of this, and get back with Dad. He should have been more careful, now that Castiel guy and his friends were doing something to Dean. How hadn’t Sam seen this? How had he been so easily duped by them, let Dean get near them when they’d done…something…to Dean?

Sam managed to get next to his brother, reaching up to look into his blank eyes as he weakly shook him. “Dean, please, wake up,” Sam quietly whispers, trying to shake him lightly, hoping for some sign. It takes another, weak shake as Sam watches, hoping, as the van begins to slow down. Dean’s eyes suddenly shift, as if somehow he’s become aware, and his eyes look over at Sam, blinking slowly as if he’s still trying to shake off whatever was given to him or had happened.

“Hey Sammy,” Dean mutters quietly, sounding half-dead as Sam lets out a loud breath of relief, trying to figure out what was going on. “Whatcha doin’ here?”

Sam swallowed, despite the dry feeling in his mouth, before he says, “We gotta go, Dean.”

Dean slowly looked around before he groggily mutters, “Shouldn’t be here, Sammy. It’s bad ‘for ya. Dad’ll be angry.” He glances at the covered TV near them before shaking his head. “Not gonna do it again. I lost that night, but didn’t do that. Not gonna do this again.” He started to shift, moving to try to hug Sammy close as he said, “Gotta get out of here, Sammy. ‘Fore it stops.”

Sam wants to argue, to get all the questions, but how worried Dean sounds, as well as how groggy Sam feels still after whatever had happened. He’s also worried over how slow the van is now going, and he manages to move with Dean as they start towards the back, attempting to get to where the back door was, Dean starting to focus a bit more, starting to move, as the van pulled to an abrupt stop. Dean suddenly shivered, as if afraid, as Sam tried to help him get the rest of the way before whoever was in the front got back to them.

A side door opened, causing Sam to turn as quickly as he could while crawling on the van floor, Dean’s arm over his shoulders, as he saw Dad look in. Sam felt himself relax, stop running, even as Dean tensed and pulled Sam closer to him, getting Sam to look between the two in confusion. “W-what’s going on?”

“Dean,” Dad said, his voice dark and dangerous, the type that makes Sam instantly cringe even as Dean tries to get to the back of the van, to the other doors, right as he growls out, “STAY!”

Dean stopped, but was still shaking, arm around Sam and blocking him as he tried to get away, or see what was going on as he heard Dad get into the back and shut the door behind him. “What’s going on? Dean? Dad? Please, tell me what’s going on!”

“Dean, hold onto Sam.”

“Nnnn,” Dean seemed to be fighting, struggling as he held onto Sam, but the hold was loose enough that Sam could still get out. It wasn’t even as tight as when Dean had horsed around with him, before he started working at the auto shop. “N-no. N-n-not Sammy. S-s-said no…no…S-sa-.”

“Dean,” Dad’s voice was low, nearly a growl, “you’re being a BAD BOY.” If anything, Dean started shaking more as Sam tried to slowly broke free, getting ready to run if he needed to run. “I said _STAY_. _I told you what was most important_.”

Dean went limp only briefly, just as Dad said, “Hold onto him, Dean,” and the grip on Sam suddenly tightened to the point that Sam couldn’t escape, could hardly breath as Dad said, “I didn’t want to do this. But considering how much Gordon’s botched this up, there ain’t no other choice.” He moved, pulling the shroud off the tv as he said slowly touched the screen, creating a strange ripple, like the screen was water, instead of solid. Sam began to struggle in earnest, attempting to speak to Dean, right as Dad said, “We’re going to be with Mary now. I held this off too long, I see that now, but I didn’t have the right words or actions just then. Now I do…” he looked over at Dean and Sam, his eyes seeming to glow with how set he was in his plan. “Dean, go in with Sam. Keep him safe. I’ll follow after you, and get you boys back when this is all done.” He moved away as Dean started forward, dragging the struggling Sam there. “I’ll deal with that boy who’s ruining everything as well.”

Dean stumbled, seeming to nearly break out of whatever Dad had done to him, as Sam kicked out, feeling like he was crying. “No, Dad, you said this…this was…”

“We didn’t get back in time for Jess,” Dad said, getting Dean to slow again, “but we protected her. If she’d listened and read the note, it would’ve worked out. You’ll be fine, Sam. Dean has enough of a Shadow after what he’s done to keep them happy and full until I can come and get you.”

_I didn’t want this! I wanted us to be a family again! Dad said that we would be a family again..._

—

Castiel groans as he slowly sits up, frowning as he sees that he was in an unfamiliar bar, instead of at home or anywhere else. He briefly sees the inside of the ever-moving Velvet Room, Naomi and Chuck looking at him worriedly as Naomi says, “We’ve managed to stop the pain. You must fix what has been broken. This will take everything you have.”

“You have enough links,” Chuck said with a smile, the book glowing with all the friends he’d made, the lives he’d touched, and another card slowly entered it, “I’ll even add my own. But you have to be very careful. This isn’t going to end well.”

Castiel doubts that it would ever end well, considering Walker’s odd mark and the Shadow that had resulted from it, not to mention whatever had happened before he’d managed to escape. The thought worried him - what had happened? Was Tramp alright? Would they still be able to get back in and save...whoever was in the TV now? Castiel might have the links and the ability, but he’d not been able to get Tramp, and had barely been able to--

“Oh thank God,” Hannah said when she saw him, hurrying over to give him a hug, “I thought...after...don’t scare me like that!”

“I’ll try not to,” Castiel said, half-heartedly returning the hug. Even if his migraine was gone for the moment, he doubted they had time to plan. “What’s wrong?” He knew Hannah well enough - just him being ill wasn’t what was upsetting her.

Gabriel and Meg walked over, looking worried as well, and...still wearing their glasses. That got Castiel to frown, confused, as he looked over at them then back to Hannah. “What is it?”

“Something happened,” Meg said, “Your uncle got Gordon but then there was a call from Alex and the others. Someone forced his way into the house. Alex freaked and hid, and Dean was taken.” She paused before saying, “Sam was taken too.”

Castiel can understand now why the duo in the Velvet Room had erased his migraine, but warned of how badly this would end. He also knew the only reason the others would still have on those glasses as well, and swallowed. “How bad is it?”

“The area where the van was found is bad,” Gabriel told him, “and Biggersons is pretty much swallowed. We got lucky it was near closing time, and a state of emergency has been called. But it’s still getting thicker, and some of the Shadows are starting to show.” He let out a breath. “Wish we’d come here sooner.”

“You kids did what you could,” an older female voice said, getting everyone to turn and look at the bar owner, “and it ain’t your fault. My fool husband let John get away with a lot, and so did the Campbells, ‘cause of what happened with Mary. Things changed, and that man hated changes.” She looked over at Castiel before saying, “Get Sam out, his daddy too, if he’s not too far gone. But Dean...he ain’t gettin’ out. Don’t know what you thought--.”

“Dean is getting out with us,” Castiel said, slowly standing as the others moved to make room, Castiel suddenly feeling his determination grow. He has a small thread, barely anything, but he knows he can make something out of it, and that something would save Dean. Just as all the other threads, all of his connections to this town, to the place he’d grown to care for, would.

“Boy, you don’t know--.” Ellen started again, but once more, Castiel cut her off.

“And you and yours did jack shit to make sure it didn’t come to this. You sat with your thumbs up your asses and hoped it wouldn’t come back. It has, and I’m going to make sure that _everyone_ is safe. Not just Sam and maybe John Winchester. _Everyone._ Because that is what I do.”

Meg let out a huff before she said, “I still haven’t completely forgiven Dean for the bullshit he let happen, and I’m certainly not letting him die on me before I can do that.”

Hannah let out a sigh. “I’d rather not have anyone else die.”

Gabriel laughed a bit, moving to put a lollipop in his mouth. “Jokes on them. I wanna see how far this joke goes, and that means we get out everyone. So, let’s see about getting them back, yeah?”

Ellen looked at them seriously, her eyes locked on Castiel, before she looked away and sighed. She didn’t stop the small group as they headed out, and back towards Biggersons and the tv that might still link them to where they needed to go.

—

The fog was not the same as over in the TV world, instead settling low and reminding Gabriel of tulle fog or similar types that hung low to the ground and made walking feel like they were going over an area full of smoke or something sinister. It reminded Gabriel of the older games about going into horrible towns, and he has to hope the lowness of the fog meant there was no chance of Shadows being around.

As they got nearer to Biggersons, though, the fog began to rise, the darker fog around their feet obscuring them until they arrived into the electronics department, going through the back door and into the department. Their glasses allowed the upper fog to be a bit less obscuring, but the one at their feet was too thick to see through.

At least nothing came up as they got there, and they didn’t fall over or anything as they got to where they were going. Gabriel is glad it hasn’t started coming out of the electronics or anything, but it’s obvious that _something_ is going on around them, and he’s a bit worried that will result in something equally bad happening while they’re in the TV World. They don’t know exactly what happened or if Tramp is ok - Castiel had told them that an earthquake had knocked out their routes to the other parts that had been built up when they’d gone in and faced off against their Shadows, but with how things were going, the other areas would be the least of their problems.

The tv was intact, thankfully, and they all quickly jump in, pausing as they see the mess of the area around them, the way the fog is starting to lift up more and more, as if escaping somewhere else. Gabriel wants to curse as he looks around, the group fanning out to try to find any sign of Tramp or where they need to go. There’s only one pathway that isn’t broken or blocked off, and a tuff of familiar, blond-and-black fur is stuck to a nail that sticks out.

“Fuck,” Castiel growls, getting everyone to look at him as he glances down at the tuff, slowly reaching to pick it up. Gabriel is pretty sure he’s never heard Castiel curse, and a glance at Hannah shows that yeah, the one who’s known him the longest is _surprised_ that such a word came out of his mouth. Granted, Gabriel can understand the sentiment. The ‘den’ area is wrecked, even if it’s still standing compared to the downed items and fog-covered or Shadow-overrun places that had been the two places where they’d faced off against Shadows. The path that Tramp apparently got taken down is almost along the same line that Gabriel vaguely remembers as the way they’d gone to find the first room. He swallows and glances at everyone before seeing that Castiel isn’t even looking at them, but instead at the fur and the path.

“Cassie? We need you to come back,” Gabriel muttered, Meg and Hannah watching as Castiel let out a long, slow breath.

“I should’ve stayed.”

“I’m sure you would’ve been in as much danger as Tramp is now,” Meg points out, “and either way, we’re here now. We had to hear from Ellen and we have to stop all this, right? One last hurrah?”

Castiel glanced at them all now, turning to look at them before saying, “Even after this...it’s not our last. We’re friends, no matter what. And we _will_ stop this.”

Gabriel smiled, happy to hear the old Castiel back, but knowing this was probably gonna end up painful. Hannah was smiling too, but with the same worry on her face. This was not gonna end well, but it was gonna end, no matter what else happened. Gabriel just wished things hadn’t gone from zero to world ending so quickly.

The group hurried down the long corridor with Castiel leading the charge, a few signs of where Tramp had obviously fought or tried to stay near his den as he was dragged out showing up more and more the further away they got, the group finally stopping at the house that stood before them. It was a two-story house with a tree to one side, a dark car that Gabriel recognized that the Chevy Impala that John drove everywhere in the driveway. The whole thing looked far too idyllic for Gabriel’s tastes, and it nearly made his teeth ache. Despite how neat it looked, they still approached with caution, and Gabriel wondered what was going on and what would happen when they finally got in. His own rescue had been _after_ having to calm down Hannah, but two Shadows at the same time? That was going to be hard.

The group slowed as they reached the door, which was opened to a darkened hallway, one side nearly closed off by what looked like glass, as if to preserve a historical moment, and the other leading to a winding staircase. Upstairs, a woman could be heard singing ‘Hey Jude’, but it sounded far away and weird, like a scratched up record or something. Gabriel swallowed as they slowly walked in. The pathway with the glass was pretty much closed off, and as they slowly moved to the stairs, they saw another tuft of blonde and black fur again.

Castiel looked around, like he was ready to shout out for their friend, but Hannah stopped him, a hand on his shoulder, while Meg glared down Gabriel so he didn’t shout as well. He instead swallowed and nodded, the quartet starting up slowly as the voice continued in the odd song. The top of the stairs lead off two ways - both were room that Gabriel found himself reluctant to try or even go near, even if only one of them had that swirling black and red thing that had marked the door they’d used when they first got here.

The problem was that all other ways were cut off, meaning the only way they _could_ get out, or see who was were, was through that door. Gabriel thought that it was just typical they’d have such bad luck, especially now.

Castiel slowly approached the door, pushing it open to reveal what should be a baby’s room, only it was much larger, with a mix of old and new toys, though all of them were discarded, save for two. One was a prone, unresponsive Dean, held by a shadowed and taller figure of Sam, while the other was a confused and muzzled Tramp held by Sam, who looks both afraid but still holds tight onto the leash in his hand.

“That wasn’t what I wanted!” Sam yelled out, signaling to Gabriel that the rules hadn’t changed in this respect - the Shadow was a black-eyes, but Gabriel would be _damned_ if he lets Sam get a Persona and join their squad! Especially not when Sam was holding and treating Tramp like some sort of pet!

Castiel gave them all a glare suddenly, and Gabriel noticed that his and Meg’s Persona were already out, with Hannah holding out her hand to get the card ready. None of them backed down as he let out a sigh, looking upset as he said, “Let me speak to him.”

“Can we kick his ass after?”

“No.”

“I totally meant his Shadow’s ass!” Meg and Gabriel complain as Hannah at least looks a bit apologetic, though her Persona is still at the ready.

“No you didn’t,” Castiel says simply, glaring at them all again before turning back towards Sam arguing with his Shadow, Tramp noticing them and letting out a bit of a small whine as he tries again to get away, but once more is brought up short.

“I half did,” Meg mutters as they watched Castiel approach Sam as his Shadow, Tramp noticing him and starting to move towards Castiel, but getting stopped short by the leash he was on.

“Sam,” Castiel’s voice rang clear as Sam and his Shadow looked over, the Shadow’s eyes narrowing as Castiel looks at the two before him, “What happened?” Sam’s eyes darting briefly over to the Personas that were out as Castiel looked at him and his Shadow, as well as the trapped Dean and Tramp.

“ _I wanted us to be a family again, and now we are. We’re home,_ ” the Shadow said happily, pulling Dean in close, tighter against him, as Tramp’s own leash became shorter as well, “ _Dean won’t listen to_ you _now. He’s_ ours _again. He’ll do anything we say, because we know best._ ”

Sam didn’t argue against the assertion, instead glaring Castiel down as Gabriel tried to think of a way to get the brat’s attention or something, or if their Personas could get Tramp loose enough that he might be of some help. He’s more worried about Sam not arguing with his Shadow – remembering his own, remember everything that it talked about, how Gabriel had wanted to deny the truth in that…he’s surprised that Sam _isn’t_ denying it anymore.

“You truly believe that this,” Castiel motions to the unresponsive Dean as Sam begins to shift, wavering, “is family? This is what will make Dean care for you?”

Sam and his Shadow glare at him, the Shadow roaring out as it held Dean tighter, “ _You don’t get it! None of you do! All he has to do is wait, one day he’ll understand--._ ”

“What will he understand?” Castiel isn’t backing down, looking at the unresponsive Dean and worried, whining Tramp as he struggles to get out of Sam’s hold. “What are you so certain he’ll understand? You said you didn’t want something, yet now you believe he’ll understand something? What are you trying to do?”

“Shut up!” Sam yells, looking upset, “He’ll understand what we have to do…had to do…that…” Sam shook his head, obviously not wanting to say what he wanted to say. He doesn’t seem to notice Tramps continued attempts to escape, or how terrified he gets as Sam gets closer to his Shadow, as if being near the side he’s supposed to deny actually gave him more power. 

Castiel looks at the Shadow as he says, “You truly believe we will ‘get it’ if you explain? Then explain. What would be so great that you give up your brother’s autonomy, his ability to be himself and have his own life? What makes you believe you are entitled to all his time and energy?” He looks back at the cringing but still defiant Sam. “You are no more entitled to all of his time then I am. I care for Dean and Tramp, but if they need time alone, I will give them that. If they wish to have friends that I dislike, that is fine. To make yourself the be-all, end-all, and plan to simply leave him, to look down on him as I know you did before he was taken from you...we may have acted like children squabbling over a doll, but that doll was still alive and able to make his own choices. If he had chosen you, I would have been upset, but I would not have argued as much as you have.”

Sam looked upset, pulling Tramp closer as he and his Shadow get nearer, Tramp finally falling down and landing near the unresponsive Dean, getting him to start to move a bit. Gabriel nearly stepped back when he saw what Dean looked like. His eyes were open and lifeless, looking similar to Tramp’s but more doll-like. His mouth was sewn shut, with one part looking like it’d been cut a bit, and bloody hooks into his skin at various points, cut strings making Dean look like a broken, freaky marionette.

“ ** _Selfish…_** ” the new voice echoed around them, getting everyone to freeze as Castiel looks over at the Shadow-Sam and regular-Sam, seeing them look almost as surprised as the others at the voice, the Shadow looking around and finally speaking, “ _I’ve done all I could for him. It’s better if we keep him safe, like Dad said. It’s better if he listens to us, even after I leave. I’m not staying here. Not for someone so worthless, so selfish. He’s so selfish now._ ”

“ ** _I’ve been selfish, leading this life,_** ” the voice sounded like Dean or Tramp’s, and Gabriel glanced over to see that Tramp and Dean seemed to be…combining, mixing in a way that made Gabriel swallow in fear. How did Sam not see this? “ ** _Throwing away things that would have hurt Dad’s plan, tossing in others to further Dad’s career...and selfish in making sure they got out. I’m a horrible, selfish brother who demanded Sammy never come here, but was waiting for the day to throw that jackass in. The day that my leash is only held by one hand…my hand. Now…_** **”** the voice had taken on Tramp’s tone, but it was harsher, cruel, and as the Shadow appeared above them, Gabriel could see why.

It wasn’t Dean or Tramp, but a mix of the two, the hooks digging into him now, blood seeping into his torn and frayed shirt that had tuffs of fur and skin peeling off. Like the doll, his mouth was sewn shut, but bits of it had been torn, as if he’d simply started moving his mouth and torn through the dark, thick thread, and the telltale teeth that sometimes stuck out at the back of Tramp’s mouth were there, coated in dark blood.

The blood and way he looked wasn’t what had Gabriel starting to get his Persona ready for an attack, or even what might have had Hannah finally calling up her own Persona as they looked at it. What freaked out Gabriel and the others out were his eyes.

Besides Gordon’s Shadow, all the others had been black-eyed and tired to their ‘original’ self denying themselves. The red-eyed one they’d recently faced down had been hard, and he’d nearly killed Cassie in their fight, not to mention having also used his original hose to fight as well. But Dean’s eyes  were an opaque white color, as if not quite yellow but not quite white, and looked almost sickly as he looked down at them, Sam’s Shadow letting go of Dean as Sam let go of Tramp, the two of them too stuck together to move and disappearing as the monstrous Shadow spoke again.

“ ** _I’ll destroy all that makes me selfish then. All of them...all of me, and become the perfect weapon._** ”

“DEAN!” Sam yells just as fire appeared behind Dean, seeming to eat up the ceiling, while a strange star of some sort held him, as if trapped on a rack for some sort of torture. A monster appeared, almost a mirror of Castiel’s huge angelic being, only its wings were torn, frayed batwing membranes flapping as the wind picked up around them, and it let out a pained, hollow, frightening _howl_.

—

Castiel yells out something, an angelic being appearing and going after the monster between them and Dean as the others attempted to move and help, the thing that looked like him turning and yelling, “ _This is your fault!_ ” before it began to change, multiple arms and snake-like appendages moving to try to fight them. Sam wasn’t about to argue with it - it _was_ their fault, it was all their fault, and why didn’t they see that he was trying to help? All they had to do was stay away, and he’d have Dean again, his family again! All they had to do was _try_ to understand what he was doing, but they couldn’t even do that!

_What are you trying to do?_

Castiel’s voice rang in his head as the monster thing that held Dean let out another howl, Castiel groaning under whatever strain he was exerting to hold it back. The others were doing better, but their attention was split between attempting to help Castiel and defending themselves from Sam’s doppelganger. Sam is shaking, trying to not listen, but…

_What are you trying to do?_

Dad hadn’t talked about what he made Dean do, and the other Dean, the one who spoke the truth while being in such pain, he’d said he tossed in people to keep Dad happy--

\-- _the announcer had claimed sexual assault by Christian Campbell...a cousin who didn’t help them, who didn’t acknowledge them, but had called a few nights before the announcer disappeared --_

_\--_ he said he’d done it to further Dad’s career...but…--

_\--”A tv station runs on news, Sam. There isn’t a lot, so I’m not being paid as much. That’s why Dean’s working at the garage.” Sam had almost protested that_ Dad _owned the garage, so wouldn’t he be paying himself by paying Dean, but then Dad had said, “Dean needs us to make sure he’s disciplined, Sam. He doesn’t understand, but we’ll make sure he does, right? You’re with me on this, aren’t you? I trust you to take care of him.”--_

_\--_ but before all of that, Dean...Dean had…--

\-- _”Where’s dad?” Dean looked up as he handed Sam the box of Lucky Charms - the last bit of it was for Sam after he’d pleaded with Dean for it. “Dad’s working to make sure we’re ok, Sammy. He’ll be back tonight.” But Dad wasn’t. He wasn’t the next night, or the next. All there was, for years, was just Dean. Dean giving up the final bit of Lucky Charms that Sam happily ate all up. Dean setting himself a small plate while Sam got first dibs on everything. Making sure that Sam was where he needed to be, not pushing him when Ruby was getting him in trouble (but Sam loved her and she wasn’t doing anything_ wrong _) and...and then Sam ran away with Ruby, and Dad found him. And then...and Dean…--_

“I want my family back,” Sam says quietly, getting that other him’s attention, “but not like this. We’re supposed to take care of Dean. This isn’t taking care of him!” The copy, the Shadow, of himself stops, looking over at Sam as he approaches him, ignoring the group as they began to work to try to get to Dean, “I want him to myself, I have...but they’re right. If I hold onto him, I’ll just get stuck here too. I don’t want that. I want...I…” he swallowed, looking back at the howling, painful-looking Dean. “I want what you do...to keep him safe. And we have to work with them to do that. We’re not enough.”

The Shadow of himself is quiet, looking at Sam with his face, only taller and older, his eyes black, before giving him a small smile. The snake-things change, as does it’s clothing, turning more like a Greek toga, before he feels it grow larger, like the others, and he looks at a turning, blue and black-tinged card on his hand, a word in his mind as he looks over at the monstrous thing that is giving Castiel problems, even with the others starting to help. Sam swallows, feeling tired and like he wants to fall over, but…he has to save Dean. He has to prove that he can do this, that he can protect Dean better than these others could.

“You didn’t kill Adler,” Sam says as he looks at the white-eyed thing that was his brother, “I texted Dad. _He_ killed him, and even after that, I still tried to get him to find you. Because I wanted to be a family again, and I didn’t think through what that meant for you. _I was the selfish one_ , Dean!”

The monster in front of his tormented brother howls again, and attacks as Sam’s Persona attacks with the others, beginning to drive it back as Castiel’s own Persona made a complex series of motions, mirroring Castiel’s own motions that seem like something that he was doing unconsciously. Sam thought it looked like some sort of complex religious blessing or something, and watches as the other Personas get a key from the glowing belt, the glow suddenly turning almost blinding as more and more keys seemed to light up, not quite changing the Persona that Castiel had, but now the wings seemed to be spreading wide, and the ones on the face opened up as the monster let out a startled yip of fear and surprise right before the light wrapped around them both, the monsters disappearing and leaving…

Nothing.

—

Sam falls to his knees as Hannah goes over to check on him, Meg moving to hold the swaying Castiel as Gabriel lets out an angry, tired huff. “So…what, is our princess in another castle? What was that? Why was Tramp and he like that?”

“ ** _Selfish…so selfish…_** ” the voice got everyone to look up, seeing Dean and Tramp there, a strange sort of leash around them, one partly looped loosely around Tramp, while another was tighter around Dean. “ ** _Belong to Dad, no one else. Belong to Sammy. We’re not for anyone else. No one else wants us._** ”

Castiel speaks up, stumbling away from Meg as he says, “You know that isn’t true. You’re part of our group. You’re someone who we all care for, in our own way. You don’t belong to Sam. You don’t belong to your father. You don’t belong to us…you’re your own person, and allowed to be selfish.” He manages to get near enough to reach over, gripping Dean’s shoulder with one hand, another moving and loosing the leash on Tramp. “I want you. Not like this, but as your own person, no matter how long that takes. I want you safe, and happy, and healthy. Please, Dean. Be whatever you like, but let it be yourself.”

Castiel’s hand reaches to the leash, pulling it off slowly, and as he finally manages to get it over Dean’s head, the weird Shadow element slowly begins to disappear, and Castiel shifts and kisses Dean. He drops the leash easily as pulls away, watching as Dean’s eyes starting to lose the off-white color as Tramp slowly moved in between the two. It’s odd, odder than even when Gordon denied his Shadow, but instead, Tramp simply disappears, in his place a small boy who looks surprisingly similar to Dean, save for the fact that he’s looking up and holding a dog-toy, the same one that Tramp had looked like, as Dean’s eyes clear. One is green, and the other is Shadow-black, as the little boy looks up with mirrored eyes.

“Tramp?” Gabriel asked, confused as Sam tried to move towards them, but his tiredness stopped him from going too far. “Wait, Tramp was Dean’s Shadow?”

The two continued to look at each other, Dean finally letting out a sigh as he said, “ _We’re not the same anymore, are we?_ ”

“ _We are,_ ” Tramp says, his voice the same despite how small he looked, “ _but not the same. I can stay here, with her. But we have to deal with Dad._ ”

Dean’s Shadow eye slowly disappeared, replaced with a green one, as Tramp changed back into his old outfit, and with a smile, changed again to a huge, tiger-sized hound, a broken leash on it, as Dean held out a hand, though no card came into it. Dean swayed then, Castiel rushing over to help hold him up as Dean let out a long, tired sigh. “Oh…so that…” he looked up at Castiel, and with a smile, one that Meg hadn’t seen for _years_ , he returns Castiel’s kiss, with enough passion that Hannah begins to blush and look away and Gabriel quickly snaps a photo.

“Dude,” Sam mutters, glaring at Gabriel as Gabriel puts his phone away.

“We’re about to go up and save the world, I’m allowed to take a photo for later.”

The two stop kissing, Dean and Castiel stumbling back over to the group as Dean falls to his knees near Sam, pulling him into a huge hug before he pulls away, saying, “You can’t do that again, Sam. I mean it. I get you didn’t know what was going on, but not again. Ok?”

Sam swallows, looking like he isn’t sure if he wants to accept that, but finally nods. “Ok.”

Dean looks at him with a great deal of seriousness before he lets out a sigh, attempting to stand but failing. Castiel was by his side quickly, Hannah and Meg helping Sam up as Gabriel looks around, as if a bit confused and worried.

“I seriously hope none of us believe it’s that easy. I mean, Tramp said we have to deal with their,” he motions to the Winchesters, “dad, and I dunno if that’s good or bad.”

“It’s bad,” Dean says, looking tired still as they start to head out of the room, “Mom could come in and out of here. Dad thought I sent her in, but she took me in to save me.” Sam looks at Dean as he continues, “I went in, got out, and got Sammy and ran out.”

“From…from the fire? You didn’t…” Sam swallows, looking down as they continue out, the house now looking smoke-damaged and full of black scorch marks as Dean tells Sam, “Yeah…dad didn’t want to tell you.” He looks down while they get out, stopping as they reach the outside. Everyone freezes, looking around the area.

It’s no longer the world they’d come into. Instead, they’re outside of Dean and Sam’s old home, and the tulle fog is now further up, more like the one they’d had to deal with before. Gabriel lets out a curse as Hannah says, “Oh no. What…where should we go?”

Dean groans a bit as they move forward a bit more, seeing a Shadow moving around across the street, but not many of them in the area. “We gotta get to Dad. He’s the one doing this.”

Sam swallows, looking worried as he says, “But…we don’t know where he took us before what happened. How can we find him?”

There was silence, broken by a soft, broken voice saying, “ ** _No news…what is wrong with you all? I can see it, why can’t you?_** ” It seemed to echo from all around them, leaving them all to try to move and protect Sam and Dean, though Dean is starting to stand up a bit more, and the huge dog in front of him is letting out a deep, threatening growl that gets the few Shadows nearby to cringe in fear. Gabriel and Meg look around as Hannah says, “He’s all around, isn’t he?”

Sam swallows, holding out his hand and muttering quietly, “Ophiuchus,” as his Persona comes in, holding up the caduceus and seeming to clear the way a bit as Sam seems to be listening to the broken voice and demands, the sudden sound of multiple televisions coming on to static. “I found him, I think. He’s trying to use the tvs to bring in more of the Shadows.”

Gabriel let out another curse before Meg asks Sam, “Any way you can boost a signal to find him, or a way to direct him?”

Sam thinks for a long moment before saying, “He’s fast.”

“Mine’s fast,” Meg says with a smile, “Just tell me where to start, and where to try to end.”

Hannah considered before saying, “We need to clear out the fog’s heaviness. Add in something else, or burn it away?”

Gabriel let out a breath. “Best place would be anywhere but Biggersons. We gotta defend it. I can get that.”

Sam is quiet, listening, then says, “Dean…can you…?”

“Cas and I got it,” Dean says quietly, “You’re good at this, and this ain’t gonna be easy. The Shadows aren’t gonna stop us, but they will go after you.”

Sam slowly nods, understanding, as Hannah says, “We can both be nearby. Meg’ll have to move, and so will Gabe.” She glances at Castiel and Dean, seeing Dean and what used to be Tramp, looking one way. “Will you two be ok?”

The two look at her, and smile confidently as they head out. Sam watches with a bit of a worry before he swallows and says, “He’s moving again. It’s towards Biggerson’s.”

Gabriel glances around, finding a moped nearby, and saying, “I’m off. Meg?”

“Please, I can get to him,” she gave Sam a smile. “Make sure to keep us safe, kid. We’re counting on you.”

Sam looks at her for a long moment before smiling back. “Got it.”

Hannah’s Persona began to swing her censor again, the smoke and sparks seeming to ignite only the thick fog, taking out the oppressive atmosphere as Meg took off in the direction Sam pointed, her Persona racing fast as Gabriel and his disappeared towards the Biggersons. Castiel and Dean followed Dean’s Persona into the deeper fog, and disappeared towards the center of town.

 


	8. Pursuing My True Self

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean, Castiel, and the others work to stop the Shadows attacking the real world.

(Thread 8): Pursuing my True Self

 The further they get into the thick fog that Castiel can guess is where John really is, the more it feels truly like the fog that they’d first encountered. Dean seems fine after a bit, not leaning as much on Castiel as they got further in.

“Dean,” Castiel speaks up as they walk further in, “are you doing alright?”

“Don’t really got a lot to do but focus,” Dean says, “I’m used to working through exhaustion, through all the bad stuff. I know Dad didn’t mean for me to fight him like this, I know it. But this is…things just worked against him.” He let out a sigh. “Dad was a bastard about it. He threw all of that on me, and just acted like I had to take on his stuff instead. I get Sam being pulled into it – he saw me as just his big brother, as just someone to take care of after a bit. But that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna take what Dad taught me and use it against him.”

Dean looks only a bit tired, and Castiel is quiet before saying, “You don’t have to do that…to take this all in. You needn’t take all of that onto you. You can lean on others.”

Dean chuckles a bit, looking over at Cas as the Shadow who’d once been Tramp looks back at them before going back to continue the hunt. Dean leans a bit more on Cas as they go. “Ok. It might take me a while to figure this out, you know.”

“Considering I get very protective of others, I’m sure we’ll figure this out.”

Dean let out a low laugh as they continue forward, stopping as they hear John Winchester’s voice once more speak up, sounding off around them, closer than even before. “ ** _You’re being a bad boy, Dean. You’re supposed to act on what’s most important. Do it. Stay, and remember what is important._** ”

Dean looks like he’s almost stopped by what was said, shuddering as Castiel keeps a hold on him, holding him up as Dean’s Persona lets out another, deep growl. At that, Dean manages to weakly mutter, “Fuck you, old man. You threw away what was important, and demand I keep that while you can ignore it? Not happening. I’m acting on what’s important, on family, family that doesn’t go back on their word.”

Castiel can feel the atmosphere pressing down on them more and more, his Persona shaking it’s feathers and spreading the wings before encompassing them both around some of the lower ones, taking away some of the pressure. Dean swallows, looking at Castiel, before nodding as the two continued forward.

—

“ ** _What are you thinking you’re doing? Do you believe you can outrun me, like you tried to outrun your past, your reputation? I’m guessing that you think being friends with that kid just erases your past._** ”

“It doesn’t,” Meg says as she pauses, looking before spotting the man, or his Shadow. Unlike the others, its eyes are lamplight yellow, glowing in the dark, and she draws in a final breath before saying, “Nothing erases the past. It’s how you deal with it, how you learn from it. Not like you,” her Persona came down on the yellow-eyed Shadow, the Shadow barely jumping back as Meg continues, “What did you learn?”

“ ** _All I have to do is kill someone, and there’s news. News means power, means more information that can be changed. All it takes is one missing, lying bitch, and threats are taken seriously while you show what people want to see – the whores that cry out whenever their tries at getting attention fail._** ”

Her Persona, Atalanta, managed a hit as Meg rushed in, grabbing a pipe from nearby and swinging it hard at the Shadow. “No offense, bastard, but how your sons turned out half as good as they did, I’ll never fuckin’ know.”

—

“ ** _So the trickster who can’t take on any responsibility thinks he can protect something?_** ” the voice from the tvs scoffed as Gabriel ripped off a piece of taffy and chewed, looking at them all slowly as they continued, “ ** _You could barely control your staff, let alone anything else. And the moment you got any sort of authority, you ran._** ”

“Well, when I ran, I gave it to someone who could manage,” Gabriel said with a smile as roots began to grow around one of the other, large tvs in the area, “and she did a great job. I know I ran, and I acknowledge I did some stupid shit. But at least after that, I made sure that whoever got put in charge was better than me. And she is…so, Mr. Running from His Problems, what’s _your_ excuse?”

The Shadow had to jump out as his Persona, Puck, used its horns to throw the Shadow as Gabriel tossed in the rest of the taffy and smirked. “You didn’t even do that for your own kids, let alone your job. How about you stop throwing stones in your glass house there, Johnny boy?”

—

“ ** _Little girl who thinks she can protect everyone_ ,**” the voice says around them as Hannah and Sam keep moving forward, her Persona’s smoke taking over more and more of the fog and starting to make things clear up as Sam looked over and around, as if attempting to find the location of the voice that echoed all around them. “ ** _Little boy who thinks he knows everything. I did everything I could for you, and this is how you repay my care? I made sure you were safe!_** ”

“No, you didn’t,” Sam ground out as his Persona paused, head turning quickly and pointing as Hannah’s Persona, Mary Magdalene, threw the censor and clapping her hands, as if in prayer. The moment it clapped, the smoke that had been building up ignited, burning through the area as Sam’s own Persona had what looked like the snakes on its caduceus leapt forward, hissing as they managed to grab hold of the yellow-eyed version of his father. “Dean kept me safe. You didn’t do anything.”

“And I think I can protect who I can,” Hannah yelled out as the fire caught, managing to not burn the other Persona as the bowl reappeared in her hand, the water being thrown to create burning steam as well. “I’ll do all I can to protect those I love, including asking for help when I need it!”

—

The Shadow above John Winchester was similar to the one that had been in front of Dean – an antithesis of Castiel’s own, horns sprouting out and circling around its head and face, torn bird and bat wings straining to open up against chains as bloodied, skinny hands curled around a short sword that glistened like false, tarnished silver. John looked at Dean with a look of deep disappointment as they approached, Dean’s own Persona letting out the same deep growl that it had before when he’d been speaking.

“ ** _Now what the hell are you doing here with him, Dean? What the hell is your idea of family, of keeping everyone safe? You think that just because some stupid kid tells you it’s alright, you can go behind your family? Is that what you wanted all this time?_** ”

“Yes,” Dean says as Castiel’s Persona goes after the demonic Shadow that his father commanded, getting his father to look at him in surprise and anger. “You’re not ideal family. You only ever treated me like a blunt instrument after mom died. You didn’t care about the pain you caused. You…” Dean’s Persona growled as it went to go and help Castiel in fighting the monster as Dean yells at his father, “You were an obsessed bastard who dumped your own crap on me! You couldn’t protect us, you couldn’t look after Sammy, you’re the one who couldn’t save Mom!” Dean rushed forward, under the fighting Personas before he manages to slug his father. “I didn’t deserve to be used like you used me! I didn’t deserve any of the shit you and Sam put on me, and I don’t deserve you as a father!”

Castiel found himself falling back as the fight with the Personas became more and more divided from Dean, his worry getting him to call out, “Dean!” as he watched the two Winchesters fight, Dean’s anger over what had happened to him and the others. He can almost hear the others calling out from wherever they are, can hear his friends and others as the Shadows try to assert themselves. It’s odd, because he can _feel_ them, like threads creating a huge tapestry behind him. It feels odd, to be so aware of all of them, of how he’s helped, of all he’s done, and seeing how John Winchester’s belief. It’s so odd, to realize they have to break this down, but at the same time, he can see _why_ he has to.

He can feel the keys, all of them, now heat up as he looks at the fight, feeling the push-back, and at Dean, fighting with his father. Castiel can _feel_ his family and friends, all those who helped him, and all he can think is the same thing he’d thought when he’d gotten the Persona. He sees the twisted Persona that John commands start to prepare for an attack, attempting to reach out and grab Dean’s Persona, attempting to once more put a leash on it.

Dean’s Persona changed as John decked Dean, sending him back as he looks down and lets out a sigh, glaring back at his father as John shouts, “ ** _You ungrateful bastard. You dare attack your family?!_** ”

“Sam’s my family,” Dean says as the Persona grows, turning into a hairy man who grabs his father’s Persona in what looks like a wrestling move, holding it still, “Cas and the others, they’re my family. Family doesn’t end in blood, and it doesn’t start there either. Family cares about you, not what you can do for them!” Castiel’s own Persona began to glow, a blinding white and blue light that seemed to catch the fog in all the ways that you didn’t want it, jumping so many times that it seemed to create the threads that Castiel felt, the ones that now were wrapping around him and Dean, “Family has your back, and are there for you through the good and bad. You were never there. You were nowhere for us, and you just used me to try to get your own stuff. You’re a selfish bastard, and you’re _not_ family!”

_I want to protect them all. Everyone, but most especially Dean, and I am not afraid to admit that. I want them all safe, and I want him sane, and that means…_

His Persona changes as well, the wings spread wide and glowing brightly, as the sound of wind and thunder echoes throughout the area, a long sword sparking with electricity now in its hand as Castiel calls out the new name that flows through him, hearing the others calling out their new Personas as well. Dean lands a final punch on his father as he calls out, “Enkidu!” and the hairy, wrestling beast-like Persona lets out a cry and throwing the demonic Persona like a wrestler throwing the opponent at the ropes. Castiel calls out his own Persona, watching as the lightning-wrapped sword plunges into it. “Qaphsiel!”

A bolt falls down, striking it as John Winchester lets out a yell, and then, the oppressive atmosphere starting to lift as Castiel and Dean let out panting breaths, Dean looking at his unconscious father and then back to Dean. His father had gotten in a few good hits, bloodying Dean’s lips and managing to get a hit that opened up a cut on Dean’s forehead, but his eyes are free of much of the pain that Castiel had been seeing in the last few weeks, and he gives Castiel the same smile he had when Castiel asked him out to eat. Castiel manages to return it, looking up as he sees that their Personas are still there, and some part of him wants to say this isn’t over, that something else is going on.

Instead, he hears the sound of someone in low heels approaching. He and Dean turn, Castiel blinking as he sees that it’s instead three women, not one. The low heels was that of Naomi, the woman who’d spoken to him in that odd Velvet room. Next to her are two women – one with long, flowing dark hair who reminds Castiel of the gas station attendant that he’d spoken to when he first arrived, and the second is a woman with feathered blond hair in a white nightgown of some sort, who looks at Dean with sadness and longing.

“Mom?”

“Oh Dean…I’m so sorry.”

Naomi looked at Castiel, giving him a smile as she said, “You’ve done well. The catastrophes that were ahead were averted, and the mysteries have been solved. You and the ones you saved have done well.”

Castiel looks at her and the other woman. “Did I? Or did you simply need someone to clean up the mess?”

The dark haired woman doesn’t appear upset with his accusation as Naomi tells him, “Amara did what needed to be done, to ensure that someone would stop the events going on here and heal the ones who would be attacked here. You must understand, Castiel, it was up to you what happened. You chose to make these links and create the tapestry that resulted in what we have now – a way for everyone to heal instead of the status quo continuing forward. Isn’t that worth being used to ‘clean up’ a mess like this one?” she motioned to the unconscious John Winchester and the frozen Dean, looking at the woman identified as his mother with longing.

Castiel doesn’t argue, instead crossing his arms and saying, “So, now what?”

“Your work is done, and what was created can protect the place that we live in. If such things happen again, you’ll know. But in the meantime, your life is now your own.” She gave Castiel a smile that actually worked as one, and motioned to the Personas. All of them suddenly appeared, as did many of the half-formed Shadows. Amara looked at them and held out her hand, all of them approaching her happily as they disappeared, though now Dean’s Persona, once more looking like his younger self, but with the ears that he’d had as Tramp. He looks at Amara, then back to Mary before Mary smiled, kneeling down and opening up her arms. Amara, when he looked at her, spoke easily. “You’re not a Shadow anymore. Go and be with Mary and the others.”

Tramp, or the younger Dean, raced and hugged Mary close, Dean swallowing as he slowly approached, Mary looking up and pulling him in for a hug as well. Everyone’s Persona had changed to look like themselves, glowing white instead of the dark that Castiel had seen, and he watches as his own approaches, also looking like himself, but with huge wings that it wraps around everyone before disappearing as well. Naomi looks over at them once more before saying to Castiel, “I look forward to seeing how the rest of your life plays out, Castiel. Enjoy.”

 —

It’s a clear day as Castiel packs up, compared to the rain that had come since his arrival at Lawrence, but he enjoys that more than the rain that had gotten him so worried. The last rainy night, before snow started instead, had resulted in everyone who’d ever watched the Midnight Channel staying up for the last night.

There had been no static, no showing of whatever might have happened. Castiel assumed that was a good thing, that it means the ones they’d seen were happy, or at least going elsewhere.

The year after they’d ‘captured’ John Winchester had been weird, and full of a great deal of drama and upset. At the same time, Castiel has to admit he’s glad for how everything has gone overly well. Though Sam had not quite grown to trust him, he still was good with Hannah, at least. Gabriel and Meg still were not every excited about seeing Sam whenever they have meet-ups, either to study or talk about all that happened. Sam is mostly there to try to talk to Dean, or to get help with his homework and plans for the future.

Castiel let out a sigh as he looked around his now-cleared room. His family had kept up on their mission, while Castiel had found a good school to go to. His scores from the final was good enough that he could go anywhere he wanted, and the one he wanted was perfect for what he planned.

Well, what he and Dean planned.

Castiel walked down and looked over at the black car, the only thing that Dean had saved from his father, and the young man standing up and leaning on the top. In the back is a combination of his and Dean’s items, as well as Dean’s acceptance letter to a community college, near the same school that Castiel is going to. Dean doesn’t believe he can go to a regular college, but Castiel thinks that after a bit, he’ll be able to see that he is fine. Still, Castiel also admits that college isn’t for everyone, and he’ll be happy if Dean is.

“Hey,” Dean says with a smile when he sees him, getting Castiel to smile back at him. “Ready to go?”

“If you are,” Castiel says, knowing that some might argue this was a bad idea. At the same time, Castiel has to admit, having known the various sides of Dean over this year, he supposes that they can last for a lot longer than others. He smiles as he walks over and opens up the passenger side, Dean opening up the driver’s side. Sam wasn’t coming with them, but that was something that Dean had set as a boundary. Sam needed to live on his own, and Dean couldn’t care for him at the moment. Sam seemed fine with that, now focusing on his own life and his own goals. Castiel was glad that Sam had accepted this, and that Dean felt comfortable enough leaving him with Jody to care for him.

“I’m ready,” Dean tells him with a smile as they get into the Impala, the doors closing as the car starts and they drive out of town, heading out to their new life.

—

Chuck cleaned up the Velvet Room, picking up his book with the pages showing the links and connections that had been created in the latest person who’d been chosen to deal with a catastrophe beyond their understanding. He smiles as he opens the book, looking through the others that had connected with Castiel, and blinks as he gets to the end, looking at two photos before he smiles again.

“I didn’t realize you were such a romantic at heart,” he mutters, touching the two images. One is inside the tv, showing the remade Shadow world, with Amara and Mary watching over the light-filled Personas and the darkened Shadows as they race around, Tramp standing between them and smiling up at them, still looking like the young boy he’d gone into the TV, but with a swishing, tiger tail and triangular dog ears. To the other side, smiling as his much-taller brother graduated, was Dean. On his finger was a silver ring, mirroring that of the other man with the two Winchesters, his dark hair messy still, and a smile on his face.

Chuck closed the book and looked back down at the table, noting the three-card spread that still had the two cards, signaling mysteries and calamity, turned over. He shifted the last, seeing it barely, before he smiled again.

“Couldn’t ask for a better ending.”

Chuck disappeared, the card shifting enough to turn over, revealing a woman watching as she looked around, the final number of the Arcana on the bottom, and the simple words “The World” underneath.

 


End file.
